More than 100,000 patients have been treated in NHS virtual wards in the last year, with 16,000 patients treated in January alone. Virtual wards allow patients to get hospital-level care at home safely and in familiar surroundings, helping speed up their recovery while freeing up hospital beds for patients that need them most. There are […]

Commenting on weekly NHS winter pressures data published this morning showing the time lost to ambulance handover delays reduced by over a third week-on-week. NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said: “Thanks to hardworking frontline staff and extra capacity including beds and virtual wards rolled out this winter, time lost to ambulance handover delays […]

Patients are set to receive an enhanced NHS 111 offer including increased access to specialist paediatric advice for children and direct access to urgent mental health support, as part of a blueprint set out today to help recover urgent and emergency care services. Parents and carers seeking health advice for children and young people using […]

The NHS and the government will publish a new blueprint today to help recover urgent and emergency care services, reduce waiting times, and improve patient experience. Frontline capacity will be boosted further thanks to 800 new ambulances, including 100 specialist mental health vehicles, and 5,000 more sustainable hospital beds backed by a £1 billion dedicated […]

The NHS will today set out steps to rapidly boost capacity and resilience, including through increasing bed availability and staff numbers, ahead of the busy winter period. Health chiefs will outline plans to prepare local services for additional pressure, by creating the equivalent of 7,000 more beds through a mixture of new hospital beds, ‘virtual […]