Hospitals in England are so overcrowded ahead of Christmas, that care is being put at risk. Some hospitals are having to turn away ambulances as they can not accept any more patients.
NHS England’s first report of winter shows nearly 95% of beds are occupied, the unsafe limit is 85%. Experts have warned hospitals were in the red zone and it is become a risk to care.
Last week eight ambulances had to be diverted to a different hospital due to high level of patients. A huge number of ambulances were delayed for 30-60 minutes. Ambulances were able to handover to A&E staff within 15 minutes of arrival but in one in nine cases they had to wait with the patient for over 30 minutes.
NHS England said: “As the colder weather begins to set in, it’s vital that the NHS and local authorities continue to work together to help people stay well and out of hospital wherever possible.
“The public can also help NHS staff by making sure they have their free flu jab if eligible and by using NHS 111 as their first port of call for non-emergencies.”
They also said: “NHS staff continue to work hard to deal with increased demand across the board, seeing 1,000 more people within four hours in A&E every day in November compared to last year.
“A growing proportion of people are getting same day emergency care which prevents the need for an overnight stay and hospitals have freed up an additional 742 beds, by working closely with councils to help more people return home with the right care in place.”
Figures show that 10,700 ambulances experienced delays and almost 2,000 of these were delayed for over an hour.
Monthly statistics for A&E performance in November showed a decline against the same period last year. Just over two million patients attended A&E in one month, 87.6% were treated, admitted or discharged within four hours. This is down from, 1.2% in the same month last year.
