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We have published a joint letter to @CommonsHealth with @TheKingsFund and @HealthFdn warning that it will be many months before health and care services will be able to return to full business alongside #Covid_19. We identify five immediate challenges: https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/letter-to-the-health-and-social-care-select-committee
- Capacity for health and care services will be severely limited while an expansion of PPE, testing and tracing and measures for social distancing are brought in to manage infection control across hospitals and in the community. 
- There will need to be an understanding of the full extent of unmet health and care need during #Covid_19 as the focus has been so far on protecting services for the most vulnerable. There will also be a demand for post-covid-19 care.
- It is likely that we will need a significant public information campaign and extensive work to protect staff before we can fully reassure the public about using health and care services. 
- Staff caring for Covid-19 patients in the NHS and social care have experienced high levels of stress and exhaustion. They will need time to recover and access to support services. 
- There will need to be a drive to improve services rather than just recover them. Pre-existing underinvestment in health and care services and deep-rooted health inequalities also need to be tackled alongside a backlog of demand.
Read the full press release here, with a warning from @nedwards_1 that “with the virus still at large, there is no easy route back to the way things were before in the NHS” with more “people waiting much longer and some services being put on hold”. https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/restarting-health-and-care-services-will-take-many-months-leading-charities-warn
