Sharp rise in A&Es turning away ambulances

[Northerner]

Overcrowded hospitals in England were forced to close their doors nearly 500 times to ambulances this winter.

The number of diverts was nearly double the level in the previous three winters and has prompted warnings about the pressures facing the health service.

Hospitals said closures were a last resort but had to be done to maintain safety in A&E.

But paramedics warned it had the knock-on effect of slowing their ability to get to the sick and injured quickly.

Ambulance crews have failed to hit any of their response time targets since May 2015, with latest figures showing that a third of the most critically ill patients wait longer than eight minutes for a 999 response.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39519855

That's the problem then - they're 'sending out too many ambulances' 🙄

 

[Lucy Honeychurch]

I know this has been a problem at my local hospital, call me cynical, but I can't help but think its part of a wider plan as the NHS is being dismantled and ran into the ground deliberately, to justify its replacement with a private/insurance based service

 

[mikeyB]

Meanwhile in Scotland, the aim to see 95% of patients within 4 hours has fallen short by 2%, but this is an improvement on last year. I haven't seen a single report of an ambulance being turned away. That's not to say it hasn't happened, but it isn't a story here.