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. 2020 Jun;41(2):345-356.
doi: 10.1111/1475-5890.12227. Epub 2020 Jun 26.

The Wider Impacts of the Coronavirus Pandemic on the NHS

Carol Propper  1 , George Stoye  2 , Ben Zaranko  3
Affiliations

The Wider Impacts of the Coronavirus Pandemic on the NHS

Carol Propper et al. Fisc Stud. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic has had huge impacts on the National Health Service (NHS). Patients suffering from the illness have placed unprecedented demands on acute care, particularly on intensive care units (ICUs). This has led to an effort to dramatically increase the resources available to NHS hospitals in treating these patients, involving reorganisation of hospital facilities, redeployment of existing staff and a drive to bring in recently retired and newly graduated staff to fight the pandemic. These increases in demand and changes to supply have had large knock-on effects on the care provided to the wider population. This paper discusses likely implications for healthcare delivery in the short and medium term of the responses to the coronavirus pandemic, focusing primarily on the implications for non-coronavirus patients. Patterns of past care suggest those most likely to be affected by these disruptions will be older individuals and those living in more deprived areas, potentially exacerbating pre-existing health inequalities. Effects are likely to persist into the longer run, with particular challenges around recruitment and ongoing staff shortages.

Keywords: COVID‐19; National Health Service; coronavirus; treatment disruptions.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Total number of NHS elective and emergency admissions between April and June 2017, and coronavirus cases as of 24 May 2020, by English region Source: Authors’ calculations using Hospital Episode Statistics 2017 and HM Government (2020).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Number of elective and emergency admissions between April and June 2017, by ten‐year age group Note: Elective patients are those with pre‐planned admissions. Emergency patients are others, excluding maternity and delivery admissions. Source: Authors’ calculations using the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Admitted Patient Care data set. Includes all NHS‐funded patients treated in England between 1 April and 30 June 2017.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Rates of elective and emergency admissions between April and June 2017, by ten‐year age group Note: Elective patients are those with pre‐planned admissions. Emergency patients are others, excluding maternity and delivery admissions. Source: Authors’ calculations using the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Admitted Patient Care data set and Office for National Statistics (ONS) population estimates. Includes all NHS‐funded patients treated in England between 1 April and 30 June 2017.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Elective and emergency admissions between April and June 2017, by local area deprivation Note: Elective patients are those with pre‐planned admissions. Emergency patients are others, excluding maternity and delivery admissions. Deprivation increases with decile number (10 = most deprived 10 per cent of areas). Source: Authors’ calculations using the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Admitted Patient Care data set. Includes all NHS‐funded patients treated in England between 1 April and 30 June 2017. Deprivation deciles defined using the ONS 2015 Index of Multiple Deprivation series.
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