Moving care into the community

The government's policy of moving health services out of hospitals into community settings has been the direction of travel for many years. However, this transition is still not happening effectively, with research highlighting an unsustainable reliance on acute care.

Last month, RCN general secretary Dr Peter Carter warned the UK has the longest hospital stays in Europe, while a report by independent health charity the Kings Fund found 39 per cent more patients waited longer than the official four hour waiting time target to be seen in A&E departments during the first three months of this year than during the same period in 2012.