Light relief for hospitals

A TRAFFIC light system for GPs is being rolled out nationwide to ease the pressure on busy hospitals.

It shows a red light for deluged hospitals and a green light against ones with spare capacity.

Until now family doctors were left in the dark.

In pilot schemes, red lights cut referrals to full hospitals by almost 40%.

NHS England director Matthew Swindells said it shows how “smarter working and relatively simple innovations” can lead to big improvements.