Patients waiting for surgery going to A&E because they 'can't cope'

Patients waiting for surgery are turning up at A&E because they “can't cope”, the head of the NHS Confederation has warned.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the body which represents all areas of the health service, said the NHS was in a "terrible situation" where it was facing "more demand than we can deal with".

Some 6.7 million people are waiting to start hospital treatment after being referred by their GP, latest official data show. Urgent and emergency care is also under significant pressure, with 12-hour A&E waits increasing by a third in July to reach 29,317 - the worst on record.

"We also know that people, many people, who are sick in the community waiting for operations, for example, and that's one of the reasons people end up in the emergency department because they get to the stage where they can't cope,” Mr Taylor said. "So the problem is that pressures in one part of the system drive pressure in others.”

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Source: The Telegraph (30 August 2022)