More than half of A&Es now failing as breakdowns in non-emergency care sees flood of desperate patients
More than half of A&Es are now failing because patients who should be treated at home or in clinics are flooding through emergency departments' “ever-open doors”, inspectors have warned.
The Care Quality Commission said breakdowns in provision for dementia and mental health patients are fueling the deterioration of standards.
The watchdog also blamed the increasing difficulty in securing GP appointments.
The body’s annual state of care report found 44 per cent of A&Es required improvement in 2018/19, compared to 41 per cent the year before, while eight per cent were branded in inadequate, up from seven per cent.
Bosses described the situation across the NHS and social care a “perfect storm” ahead of what is forecast to be a tough winter for hospitals.
The CQC also said it still has "serious concerns" about patient safety in the health service, despite small improvements since last year.
Some 36 per cent of NHS hospitals are currently ranked as requiring improvement on safety, while three per cent are inadequate.
The CQC also warned of a "serious deterioration" in the quality of inpatient services for people with mental health problems, learning disabilities and autism.
Ten per cent of inpatient services for people with learning disabilities and/or autism were rated as inadequate, compared to just one per cent the year before.
Meanwhile seven per cent of child and adolescent mental health inpatient services were rated inadequate, up on three per cent the year before.
The shortcomings are heaping pressure on already struggling emergency department staff, the watchdog said.
Kate Terroni, the Care Quality Commission’s Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, said: “This year’s State of Care report shows that people are struggling to get the right care at the right time in the right place.
"For people with dementia, this can mean that they end up in emergency departments because they can’t get the help they need out of hospital.
“Or it could mean that they end up relying on the army of unpaid carers, 600 of whom are leaving their jobs everyday to care for loved ones.
“Or it could mean they never get the help they need.”
The report also revealed that over the last five years, the 18-week waiting list for planned hospital treatment has gone up from around three million people to 4.4 million people.
It follows recent research by the charity Age UK which found that 1.4million people, most of them elderly are not having their care and support needs met Dr Nick Scriven, past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: “It is a frightening state of affairs in our acute hospitals if over 25 per cent are deemed as "needing improvement" or "unsafe"in the run up to what could be one of if not the worst winters for us in terms of demand.
"This is even more concerning when you realise that 52 per cent of our urgent and emergency services fall into this category.
“We have seen this year demand is already more than 5 per cent up on every month last year with no sign of this increase flattening out or any possible respite."
He added: “We can only hope that over the next few months we do not see any prolonged bad weather nor any kind of influenza increase above seasonal averages.”
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We are supporting our most vulnerable by transforming mental health services with a record spend of £12.1 billion this year and are working to reduce the number of people with learning disabilities and autism in mental health hospitals by improving specialist services and community crisis care, reducing avoidable admissions and enabling shorter lengths of stay.
“We will set out our plans to reform social care in due course.”
