Milton Keynes

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patients in need of emergency to say supply have a "miserable" time, the doctors, as the data set is delays in England show a long time in The Past month.

clinics under massive pressure, reported in December, with one in five A& E patients waiting over four hours.

A Central Problem is a lack of beds on the wards seems to be.

Nearly 100,000 sickest patients were forced to spend More Than four hours on trolleys in the corridors after their time could not be found in the A& E in the beds.

the delays caused by the introduction of outpatient clinics were.

in six of the teams were in a queue outside A& E units for More Than 30 Minutes waiting to transfer the patients to the Staff of the hospital - the goal of 15.

the Royal College of Emergency Medicine President Dr. Katherine Henderson, said of the battle: "The NHS in order to escape its spiral of decline.

"That was a miserable Christmas for many patients and employees alike. "

NHS medical Director Prof Stephen Powis said that she was engaged in a "very" period, in the cell of a previous outbreak of the flu in previous winters.

He said the health service was to recruit, to ease the search of employees and the opening of more beds in The Future .

to relieve, In the meantime, hospitals have been forced to emergency-steps.

Many of the routine operations moved to try to free up space.

And some hospitals have even had to introduce emergency protocols and re-route ambulances to other nearby services.

There are More Than 120 cases were happened in the last few months - with A Number of hospitals on the measure, known as a& E redirected several times.

"My father-in-law, spent 25 Hours waiting for a bed'

Mark Newton, 83-year-old father-in-law, George Bufton, was taken to Shrewsbury Hospital in The First week of January.

He had to blow a chest infection and a suspected gall -, Problem - and this came just over a month after a serious bowel cancer operation.

He spent up to 25 Hours waiting for a bed.

Mr Newton said he was "flabbergasted" by what he saw.

At a point about 20 trolleys waited in the hallway, with queues of ambulances outside A& E.

He said, the Staff were just doing an "admirable job in the circumstances, But it was not easy to master, with enough money and Staff .

"It's a complete mess. This can not continue. Something must be done about it," Mr Newton said.

How bad has it been?

December was certainly the worst month since the four-hour target was introduced in 2004.

79. 8% of patients spent less than four hours in A& E and below the 95% target.

Three trust - Norfolk and Norwich, Stockport and Hull All of the drop in performance Seen under 60%.

Meanwhile, a group of Midlands trusts - Shrewsbury and Telford, Leicester, Birmingham and United Lincolnshire were All among the 10 worst performers.

waiting times gradually worse in the Autumn - October and November saw record worst levels as Well .

But the problems, the E do not wait in the emergency supply is limited to A&.

The Number of patients required to be admitted to the Station and faced long delays, a new worst level meets.

There were 98,500 patient, the wait before a so-called "trolley," for four hours.

This is almost a quarter of the patients needed to be admitted.

"trolley waits" can be, in the corridors or temporary waiting area, either in A& E, or just outside of it.

patients who are admitted are often the sickest of the people who have been missed at A& E.

The waiting time targets for cancer treatment and routine operations such as knee and hip replacements, also.

What is The Cause of the pressure?

hospital leaders realized that it is one of The Most difficult months, she had Seen - and this comes despite The Extra money the government has in this year, which saw the NHS budget grow by 3. 5%.

There are a variety of reasons behind the problems.

Prof Joe Harrison, chief executive of Milton Keynes Hospital, said his Staff were seeing some very sick patients.

He said, it is mainly a combination of elderly and children that seemed to have been hit particularly hard by the flu and respiratory diseases.

But the figures also show, include, vomiting, The Number of beds closed, and diarrhea outbreaks More Than 60% compared to last year, with 760 beds, on average, every day in the last month, almost 1% of the bed supply is lost.

Prof Harrison also said that the social care in the community, leaving hospitals to discharge patients seemed to have, More Than last year.

"safety is our top priority. There is a significant pressure, not only in this hospital But in the whole of the NHS system as a whole," he said.

Richard Murray , The King 's Fund think-tank, said he believed there were too few beds in The System .

"the hospital-bed numbers dropped significantly over The Past ten years. With hospitals running at full capacity, it is clear, the bed, the cuts have gone too Far . "

What is with the rest of the UK?

The difficulties are not just limited to England - none of the three core objectives cover A& E, routine operations and cancer is observed in The Other three Nations.

In the last days of Hywel Dda health board, which is responsible for services in West Wales , said it had. to cancel planned surgery on A Number of local hospitals because of the "difficult" situation

The British Medical Association, said services had been stretched across The Nation , with some reports that the cancer had surgery had to be aborted.

not for publication in the four-hour performance figures for December, the Welsh Government until later in the month.

Scotland-figures for the festive season are not yet available, But the November was one of the worst months on record.

Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland , which is one of the worst records when It Comes to A& E delays, it relates to the ongoing strike of nurses, exacerbated by the winter pressure.

While A& E departments have remained during the current strikes in the second round took place This Week , it was reported that the fighting, sick at home to discharge patients quickly enough.

And this has a knock-on effect, leading to delays in the admission of patients.

According to the latest figures, which date back to September, one third of patients waited longer than four hours in A& E, which was twice as bad as The Situation in England and Scotland in this month.

nhs, a& e

Source of news: bbc.com