‘I’m an A&E doctor – I’m furious winter crisis has been allowed to get this bad’

An emergency medicine doctor has told of his anger that politicians and health chiefs failed to prevent another NHS winter crisis.

At least 12 hospitals have declared critical incidents in recent days, with some so busy that patients are spending days in A&E corridors or waiting for hours in parked ambulances.

Dr Ian Higginson, vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, told the Daily Express the crisis was predictable and “a complete failure of political and NHS leadership”.

He said: “Flu is creating problems but it’s important to note that everything we’re seeing this year isn’t just because of flu. Flu is the straw that’s breaking the camel’s back.

“Doctors and nurses working in emergency departments up and down the country are treating vulnerable elderly patients in corridors or in ambulances in car parks.

“They are exhausted, they are distressed by what they’re seeing…and we know our patients aren’t enjoying their experiences either.

“You could go to almost any emergency department in the country and find exactly the same thing, and that has got to stop.”

The medic said he was determined to do the best for his patients but felt angry that “things have been allowed to get to this point”.

He added: “We know that, every year, thousands of patients are dying unnecessarily in association with long waits in emergency departments.

“It’s not as if this is unpredictable. We see it coming every year and yet those who have the levers, the power, the ability to make the policy changes and investment that’s needed, don’t seem to grasp this particular bull by the horns.

“We blamed Covid, then we blamed the junior doctor strikes, then we blamed the last Government and now we’re blaming flu.”

Warwick Hospital was among the latest to declare a critical incident. South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust said in a statement that A&E attendances in recent days had been “consistently some of the highest we have ever experienced”.

Some affected hospitals limited visitor numbers and York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust asked those seeking medical attention to arrive alone if possible.

Dr Higginson said he hoped the “penny has dropped” for Labour and called for “meaningful action” and investment to end the normalisation of NHS winter crises.

He added: “Crowding in emergency departments is not inevitable. There is a world where we can provide patients with the care they need in a timely fashion, in departments which are not full to bursting and where we can see patients in appropriate environments and not in corridors.”

Ambulances have also been severely impacted. East Midlands Ambulance Service formally stood down its first ever critical incident on Wednesday but warned that NHS services in the region remained “fragile”.

More than 400,000 patients may have come to harm as a result of handover delays exceeding one hour in the last year – more than the population of Coventry – according to estimates from the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives.

The association’s managing director, Anna Parry, told the Express: “It’s extremely challenging and difficult, primarily because staff aren’t able to deliver the levels of care that they join the ambulance service to deliver.

“An exacerbating feature for ambulance services is handover delays that have a major impact on our ability to get back out to patients requiring an emergency response.

“We’ve seen an 18.7% increase in the number of patients that may have come to harm as a result of delays exceeding more than one hour this year. That’s very significant.”