The NHS is gearing up for a busy winter by creating thousands more beds and recruiting more emergency call handlers to boost capacity. Winter is usually the busiest period for the NHS every year, but health leaders expect the combination of Covid and flu to pile yet more pressure on already stretched services this year.
The equivalent of 7,000 more general and acute beds will be created through a mixture of new hospital beds, virtual wards and initiatives to improve patient flow, according to NHS England. It also said the health service will recruit more call handlers nationwide so there are at least 4,800 staff working in NHS 111 and 2,500 in 999 call rooms.
NHS England said the additional 999 capacity will help staff meet record demand, with a target to answer calls in an average of 10 seconds. The package of measures includes an extra £10 million for mental health services throughout the winter and mental health professionals being deployed in 999 call centres to direct people in crisis towards appropriate services, according to YorkshireLive.
