Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced measures to help cut the death toll in hospitals this winter.
The Government is investing £250 million into hospitals. This will provide for nearly 3000 extra staff and almost 2,500 more beds which will be made available to over-stretched hospitals to cut the winter death toll.
Most of the funding was distributed earlier in 2013 to 53 areas where hospitals were identified as being under most pressure. Last week NHS England announced a further £150million to help other health trusts cope with the winter weather.
Mr Hunt said, “we’re backing our hard-working NHS staff with the extra doctors, nurses and beds they need to make sure patients get the excellent care they expect. Winter is tough but the NHS has never been better prepared”.
However, the British Medical Association claimed it was not new funding. The Chairman said, “this is money which is being moved from one part of the NHS to another and doesn’t offer a sustainable solution to the acute funding pressures facing the NHS. Short-term fixes will only get us so far”.
