The NHS Alliance responds to NAO report on patient flow through hospitals

Responding to the National Audit Office (NAO) report on patient flow through hospitals, the chief executive of the NHS Alliance, Sir Ciarán Devane, said:

"The NAO has rightly recognised that some progress has been made in reducing waits in A&E, even as hospitals face ever-growing demand for urgent and emergency care.

"But many patients still face unacceptable delays.

"Local NHS leaders and frontline staff are working to improve access, and identify and tackle obstacles to patients’ progress right through the system.

"While long waits for care are most visible inside hospitals, many of the solutions lie in the community.

"They include improved access to GPs and their teams, ambulance crews treating more patients on the scene, and better coordination with social care to speed up discharges.

"Steps like these can reduce the logjam in hospitals, or prevent the need for a visit to A&E in the first place."