Responding to the Care Quality Commission’s ‘The state of health care and adult social care in England 2022-23’, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation said:

“This sobering report lays bare the critical state that the NHS is in and should provide a salutary warning to political leaders about the abundance of issues facing the health service and the scale of the recovery task ahead.  

“After a decade of under-investment in staff, buildings and infrastructure, it is no surprise that we are in this position. We now need a credible plan that helps NHS leaders recover services and rebuild public confidence in what has always been one of the UK’s most valued institutions.

“The report is rightly at pains to point out that there is good work happening across all of the sectors in very tough conditions, particularly around mitigating the risks of staffing shortages, but health leaders will all too readily recognise the many intractable problems outlined within it.  

“This should make for deeply uncomfortable reading for the government, with crises on multiple fronts meaning much more help is needed if the gridlocked care system is to have any hope of getting back to where it was in terms of performance a decade ago.

“There are over 7 million on elective care waiting lists, increasing delays in A&E, notable declines in maternity, mental health and ambulance services, insufficient capacity in adult social care, and continued issues with access in primary care and dentistry – that one patient resorted to pulling their own teeth out due to a lack of available NHS dentists should be a source of shame for the sixth largest economy in the world.  

“That’s not to mention worsening health inequalities, with this report suggesting that those who can afford it are increasingly turning towards private care, creating the risk of widening access gaps towards a future two-tier healthcare system, or the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on patients, providers and exhausted, stressed staff – whose satisfaction with levels of pay has dropped twelve percentage points since before the pandemic.

“There is work to be done for local health leaders, notably on measures and timeframes for equality, diversity and inclusion objectives, but this should not mask the fact that the NHS and social care needs further urgent support and investment – and much more pressingly, an end to industrial action – if it is to regain the stability the public desperately want it to have.”