Doctors warn of ‘massive’ winter crisis in UK’s overstretched A&E departments

Royal College of Emergency Medicine warns of ‘unacceptable risk’ posed by lack of funding to NHS

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.