Covid-19 impact on patients: ease of access should be a clear aim of the NHS

Not only has the covid pandemic taken its toll on staff, the consequences for patients have also been dire.1The rise in non-covid mortality won’t surprise anyone who has tried to access healthcare recently. The Office for National Statistics recorded a 14% rise in excess deaths, with 31.5% of those occurring at home.2 As a medical examiner I am frequently reviewing deaths that have occurred following an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest or peri-arrest when it is clear that the person had been ill but had either not sought, or been thwarted in their attempt, to obtain medical help. There is a public perception that it is near impossible to see a GP; ambulance waiting times are now so long as to be harming patients. When the ambulance gets to the hospital, patients are held in the back of it for hours on end. Waiting times for walk-in patients in emergency departments are…
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