Health secretary announces measures to prepare our hospitals for the autumn and winter

Today the Health Secretary set out what steps his Department is taking to prepare our NHS for the autumn and winter months ahead – ensuring that our NHS is ready and prepared for upcoming challenges so that everyone gets the care they deserve. 

• The autumn and winter months always bring additional challenges for our NHS, and we all know that the next few months in particular will bring serious challenges.  

• So I was pleased to see that the Health Secretary has set out today how his Department is preparing for the autumn and winter months, including boosting the NHS workforce, addressing delayed discharge and working on a ‘pharmacy first’ model to help ease pressure on our hospitals’. 

• The government needs to take action now to prepare for the upcoming months to ensure everyone can access the health and care services they need and deserve, and I was encouraged by today's statement indicating that they are indeed setting out the measures needed to do so.