Easing the strain on NHS

New figures released today illustrate just how much pressure our National Health Service is under .

Statistics reveal that a new patient visits Sunderland Royal Hospital’s A&E department every three minutes.

A staggering 140,037 patients went to the emergency ward in 2015/16.

And it’s all credit to our hospital staff that 131,032, or 93.6%, waited less than four hours for treatment.

That’s slightly worse than the Government’s target of 95% meeting the deadline. However it’s above the national average of 91.9%.

Believe it or not, that was the rather good news. Other figures, albeit national ones, paint a more depressing picture.

Trolley waits of more than 12 hours in A&E among elderly people have more than doubled in two years.

Data shows a huge rise in the number of very long waits among those aged 70 and over – from 34,088 in 2013/14 to 88,252 in 2015/16.

Among all ages, there were 185,017 trolley waits of 12 hours or more in 2015/16, up from 157,895 the year before and 87,213 in 2013/14.

With A&E bursting at the seams and resources apparently dwindling, the Government has a massive job to pull the NHS out of an ever-deepening c risis.

But we all have a part to play. Last week, health bosses warned that thousands of patients used the North East’s A&E departments during the run-up to Christmas when they didn’t need to – for ailments as minor as broken finger nails, toothache and overindulging on alcohol.

People have got to see sense. Stop using A&E services for ailments which are not serious or lifethreatening.