Doctors warn of ‘massive’ winter crisis in UK’s overstretched A&E departments
Emergency doctors have sounded the alarm over an approaching winter crisis that they say is already putting patients in overstretched A&E departments at risk.
Nearly all medics (94%) fear patients are coming to harm because of the conditions in A&E departments around the UK, according to a snapshot survey of 83 medics from emergency departments from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM). Most (87%) are not confident their departments will cope well over the winter months, while 41% feel less prepared for this winter compared with last year.
More than four-fifths (83%) of the emergency doctors surveyed between 7 and 13 November said patients were being cared for in corridors, which can leave people stranded for hours on trolleys or chairs, while more than half (51%) had seen patients forced to wait outside emergency departments in ambulances.
The president of the RCEM, Dr Adrian Boyle, said: “This is a stark warning from those on the frontline. Clinicians are worried and patients are unsafe. Winter is coming and it looks like we are facing a massive crisis is every part of the UK. We cannot just ignore winter and our patients.”
Source: The Guardian, 18 November 2024