Same people still in A&E queue when we return for next shift, say NHS staff

Filling in: military personnel in south-east London during yesterday’s strike by paramedics. 999 calls for ambulances in the capital were down by a third

- Nicholas Cecil Political Editor

MEDICS in A&E are going off shift and returning 12 hours later to find the same patients still waiting to be admitted as the NHS is overwhelmed, a hospital chief revealed today.

One senior casualty doctor told how he was close to tears as he “apologised to patients for the standards of care”.

The number of 999 calls for ambulances in London are thought to have been down by around a third yesterday as people responded to pleas during the 12-hour strike by paramedics to limit them to what they regarded as life-threatening situations.

But hospital chiefs are now braced for even more pressure in coming days from “pent-up” demand for healthcare after the nurses and ambulance crew strikes this week.

A North West hospital chief told the Health Service Journal: “A&E’s so busy this week we’ve had staff go home after their shift...come back 12 hours later, and they see the same set of patients in the department, still waiting to be admitted. I can’t tell you how demoralising that is.”