Long wait for operations forces infirm to seek help in A&E

PATIENTS waiting for surgery are turning up at accident and emergency departments because they “can’t cope”, according to the head of the NHS Confederation.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the body which represents all areas of the health service, said the NHS is in a “terrible situation” facing “more demand than we can deal with”.

About 6.7million people are waiting to start hospital treatment after being referred by their GP, latest figures show.

Urgent and emergency care is also under significant pressure, with 12-hour A&E waits increasing by a third in July and record waits for ambulances. More than half of adults (56 per cent) say they are not confident they will receive a timely ambulance response, according to a Savanta Comres poll for the Daily Express.

“We also know that people, many people, are sick in the community waiting for operations, for example, and that’s one of the reasons [why] people end up in the emergency department because they get to the stage where they can’t cope,” Mr Taylor told Times Radio. “So the problem is that pressures in one part of the system drive pressure in others.”

More than 320,000 patients were waiting to start treatment in cardiology units as of June, while 531,907 were waiting for surgery or treatment in ear, nose and throat departments.

“There’s also the issue of people in hospital that don’t need to be in hospital because we don’t have the social care provision,” Mr Taylor added.

Six in 10 patients who are medically fit to be discharged remain stuck in hospital. On average, 21,741 were deemed well enough to leave hospital, but just over 8,800 were actually discharged.

Mr Taylor said: “People know that very often we’re not able to provide the level of service we want to provide.”