£300m NHS Boost To Cope With Winter Demand
The extra funding is to cope with higher demand as sick patients are urged to stay away from hospitals and go to chemists instead.
Thursday 13 November 2014 21:49, UK
An extra £300m is being pumped into the NHS to prepare for the inevitable spike in demand once the cold weather arrives.
The money is being earmarked to pay for more doctors and nurses and extra hospital beds as well as increasing access to GPs.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the NHS is "under unprecedented extra demand" with a million more visits to accident and emergency departments than in 2010.
"Emergency admissions are growing about 3% to 4% year in, year out," he said.
"We are very aware that over this winter there is going to be some real pressure there.
"We've given the NHS extra resources to make sure it is better prepared than ever before."
But he added that it was "not sustainable" for A&E to bear the brunt of the demand and patients are being urged to make more use of their local pharmacy.
The planning for this winter began at the start of the year.
It has seen hospitals, GPs, local councils and social care organisations working together to decide where the money is most needed on their patch.
At Ipswich Hospital the extra cash has been welcomed. Chief executive Nick Hulme says it will mean some significant changes.
"We know where patients go and where they are sickest and we can provide the care where it's most needed," he said.
"We will be trying to reduce the number of people who come into A&E by providing more care in the community, by triaging people better in A&E and by putting GPs at the front door in A&E so that those patients who have primary care conditions can be treated and sent home."
There will also be more staff working nights and at weekends at the hospital, a new therapy ward and teams to treat patients in their own homes.
The new funding is being added to £400m allocated in June.
The Department of Health estimates it will pay for the equivalent of up to 1,000 extra doctors, 2,000 nurses and 2,000 other NHS staff such as physiotherapists and social workers.
There will also be 2,500 extra beds, £25m put aside to increase access to GPs and £50m to support the country's ambulance services.
But shadow health secretary Andy Burnham says "throwing money" at the crisis is not the answer.
"England's A&Es are getting worse, not better, and this panic move is too little to stop the NHS facing a difficult winter. It is further evidence that David Cameron can't be trusted with it."