The CSP has called for Lord Ara Darzi to focus on rehabilitation in his upcoming review of the NHS.
Together with members of the Community Rehab Alliance, which the CSP convenes, the Society highlighted that tackling logjams in patient flow cannot be done without making rehabilitation a key area of the review.
The group of 60+ national charities and professional bodies cited compelling evidence of rehab’s role in reducing ambulance queues, A&E waiting times and unnecessary lengths of hospital stays.
Though rehab could help cut emergency department attendances by a million a year, its exclusion from the most recent elective care recovery plans and surgical hubs were missed opportunities, the CSP argued.
The CSP also underscored the importance of making use of the existing workforce across sectors if the government is to achieve meaningful reform.
Sara Hazzard, CSP assistant director, said: 'We will continue to make the point that rehab is as important as medicines and surgery because it adds life to years, not just years to life.
Without access to high quality, community-based rehabilitation, people will continue to be driven towards the most expensive parts of the health and social care system, such as A&E and secondary care
'Fixing our broken NHS needs to address the flow of patients both in and out of hospital, and that means ensuring the right staffing and structures are in place for prevention and rehab to help people stay well or recover as fully and fast as they are able to.'
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