The CSP has led a joint response from more than 20 organisations to a cross-party government inquiry into how NHS and care services are delivered during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Health and Social Care Select Committee Inquiry: ‘Delivering core NHS and care services during the pandemic and beyond’ aims to identify and address challenges faced by the NHS and care sectors over coming months, and says it will ‘give those working the sectors an opportunity to set out what help they will need from government in meeting them’.
In their joint response the 22 professional bodies and national charities, which include the CSP, AGE UK, Royal College of Occupational Therapists, British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine, and Sue Ryder, highlight the crucial need for rehabilitation for people recovering from Covid-19 and raise fears that many people are being rapidly discharged from intensive care without the community rehabilitation services that they need in place.
They also emphasise the importance of joined-up rehabilitation services in getting the country back on its feet and back to work beyond the pandemic, and highlight the risks of not meeting the significant build up of rehabilitation needs as services return to business as usual.
Rachel Newton, CSP head of policy, said: ‘That this large and credible group of organisations have submitted a joint response highlights the importance of rehabilitation as a critical factor in the ability of the country to recover.
‘The healthcare system has so far rightly focused on saving lives and stopping the spread of the virus. Recovery and rehabilitation need to be the priority in the next phase.
‘The pandemic has shone a light on how under-developed and under-resourced community rehabilitation is. We are also advocating learning from the pandemic to shape rehabilitation services for the future and address this weakness in the current healthcare system.’
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