UK healthcare system facing critical risk from twindemic
Rising Covid-19 and flu cases are increasing pressure on the NHS and social care system
Sixty-seven per cent of healthcare professionals believe that the twindemic of increasing Covid-19 and flu cases means the UK healthcare system is facing critical risk, according to a study by healthcare platform Florence.
The study of 442 qualified workers in nursing, social care, elderly care, mental health and the NHS also found that 23.8 per cent think the healthcare system will collapse due to this increased pressure.
More specifically, 63 per cent believe quality of care will be impacted by the twindemic, 61 per cent say essential services will be overloaded, and 56 per cent are concerned that vulnerable people won’t be able to access the care they need.
Only 0.5 per cent think that there will be no impact.
The UK’s healthcare system is already suffering from record-breaking long wait times and bed blocking over recent months. However, many believe that the twindemic will exacerbate these issues: 57 per cent think wait times will be longer and 42 per cent say there is a greater risk of bed blocking.
Dr Charles Armitage, CEO and Founder of Florence, commented: “More needs to be done to equip frontline workers with the support they need to function to the best of their ability. The scale of the worldwide healthcare staff shortages is one of the greatest threats to health globally.
“For the public, inadequate numbers of staff are a risk to both access to care and quality of care. For staff, it leads to stress, burnout, and a lack of support for the existing workforce who are imperative to society. Our research suggests that our healthcare workers are losing faith in the government, but only systematic reform can fix the broken care staffing model for good.”