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   Hospitals 'on brink of collapse'   
   COMMENTS (1063)   
   By Nick Triggle   
   Health correspondent, BBC News   
      
   Hospital beds are being closed, but demands are increasing   
   Continue reading the main story   
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   Hospitals in England could be on the brink of collapse, leading   
   doctors say.   
      
   The Royal College of Physicians said the triple effect of rising   
   demand, increasingly complex cases and falling bed numbers was causing   
   problems.   
      
   The college's report claimed urgent care was already being compromised   
   and warned the situation would get worse unless something was done.   
      
   But the government rejected the suggestion, saying the NHS was ready   
   for the challenges it was facing.   
      
   The college said in some ways the NHS had been a victim of its own   
   success.   
      
   Advances in medicine had led to people living longer, but this meant   
   they were increasingly developing complex long-term conditions such as   
   dementia as a result.   
      
   It said this had been happening during a period of falling bed numbers   
   - they have been reduced by a third in the past 25 years - and rising   
   numbers of emergency admissions.   
      
   Poor standards   
   The RCP said standards were slipping in hospitals throughout England.   
      
   It cited the way older patients were repeatedly moved around wards,   
   the lack of continuity of care while in hospital and tests being done   
   during the night as some of the examples of how care was suffering.   
      
   The college also highlighted the results of feedback from its members,   
   which showed concern about discharge arrangements and workload.   
      
   And it warned the problems could lead to another scandal like that   
   surrounding the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, which became the subject   
   of a public inquiry after regulators said poor standards had led to   
   needless deaths.   
      
      
   Doctor Andrew Goddard of the Royal College of Physicians: ''The winter   
   pressure is an all-year pressure''   
   Prof Tim Evans, of the RCP, said: "This evidence is very distressing.   
   All hospital patients deserve to receive safe, high-quality   
   sustainable care centred around their needs.   
      
   "Yet it is increasingly clear that our hospitals are struggling to   
   cope with the challenge of an ageing population who increasingly   
   present to our hospitals with multiple, complex diseases.   
      
   "We must act now to make the drastic changes required to provide the   
   care they deserve."   
      
   The report said the solution lay in concentrating hospital services in   
   fewer, larger sites that were able to provide excellent care round-the-   
   clock, seven days a week.   
      
   But it also said this would require improvements in community services   
   as there were many patients who ended up in hospital because of a lack   
   of help close to home.   
      
   Jeremy Hughes, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said:   
   "These latest findings are alarming but, unfortunately, not   
   surprising.   
      
   "It is painfully evident that the healthcare system stands on the   
   brink of crisis.   
      
   "People with dementia are going into hospital unnecessarily, staying   
   in too long and coming out worse."   
      
   Health minister Dr Dan Poulter said: "It is completely wrong to   
   suggest that the NHS cannot cope - the NHS only uses approximately 85%   
   of the beds it has available, and more and more patients are being   
   treated out of hospital, in the community or at home.   
      
   "But it is true that the NHS needs fundamental reform to cope with the   
   challenges of the future.   
      
   "To truly provide dignity in care for older people, we need to see   
   even more care out of hospitals. That's why we are modernising the NHS   
   and putting the people who best understand patient's needs, doctors   
   and nurses, in charge."   
      
      
   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19577489   
      
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