NHS patients have up to four days waiting to be admitted to A&E, health leaders warn

NHS patients have been waiting up to four days before being admitted to hospital accident or emergency departments, health leaders have warned.

Ian Higginson, vice-chancellor of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, has condemned all attempts to “disbelieve” warnings that as many as 500 people die each week from delayed emergency care.

Higginson told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s figures were more than “guess”.

He said, “Anyone who works in the emergency department over Christmas and New Years, including me, will tell you… the waiting times patients are experiencing right now are appalling.

“We are hearing that patients are now waiting to be admitted in the emergency department for up to four days. It used to take four hours.

“And of course, being homesick without being able to call an ambulance is risky.

“If you’re in an ambulance parking lot, you can’t treat them properly. If you’re in a hospital hallway, you can’t treat them properly. These are real numbers, and you can’t use this data to harm patients.” I fear we will hear attempts to twist, manipulate and discredit…This is a real problem.It is happening in our emergency department right now.”

Education Minister Robert Halfon has said pressure on the A&E sector is a “top priority” for the prime minister.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the Conservative MP acknowledged the pressure facing the health care system, but said: “It is perfectly clear that the prime minister is treating this as a top priority.”

“We have increased our NHS capacity by the equivalent of 7,000 beds and are spending another £500m to accelerate discharges and improve capacity.”

He acknowledged that more could be done, but defended the government’s response.

“The government is putting a lot of money into it and doing everything it can.

“Of course, we know that many of these problems have been caused by the pandemic and the pressure on the NHS that we have seen over the past few years.

A new study finds that some ill people are relying on self-care because they can’t get a face-to-face appointment with their doctor.

A study by Savanta ComRes found that in the past 12 months, more than 1 in 4 adults tried but were unable to get face-to-face consultation with a local GP.

While some delayed seeing a doctor or abandoned it altogether, polls show that 1 in 6 (16%) of those who miss an appointment will either self-treat or seek medical attention. Turns out I asked someone else who wasn’t qualified.

Higginson added:

“What we’ve heard in the last few days is that the current problems are all Covid-caused, or they’re all flu-caused, or that this is complex and we shouldn’t jump to conclusions in haste.

“If you’re on the front lines, you know this is a long-standing problem. This is not a short-term one. Things like what we’re seeing happen every winter, but still It’s like a surprise to the NHS.”

Saffron Cordery, Interim Chief Executive of NHS Providers, said the pressure on the NHS was “on par with” the pressure in the early stages of the pandemic.

She said the pressure is now coming from many directions, including understaffing, underinvestment, an exhausted workforce, backlog of work, and ongoing coronavirus and flu cases.

She said: “I think we see equal levels of pressure. They’re just manifesting in different ways.

“What we saw in terms of the pressure during the pandemic was tens of thousands of people walking through the doors of hospitals with contagious diseases for which no effective treatment was known.

“Nearly every hospital bed had to be given away to Covid patients. There was little or no elective routine. Because there was nothing that could be done except to deal with the disease due to a specific cause.

“What we know now, and I think it’s probably a more difficult situation, is that it’s still going through the door, but it also has a legacy of Covid, an exhausting workforce. Staff shortages and vacancy levels are even higher, currently at 133,000 across the NHS.

“And there’s also real pressure to do more of our daily activities as we have to build up the waiting list.”

She said the NHS needs to attract and retain staff from all walks of life, from medical assistants to nurses and doctors, ensuring they are well paid and have fulfilling careers.

Nurses, like paramedics, went on strike for two days in December over wages and conditions, and the British Medical Association said it would hold a vote for junior doctors this month.