A&E doctors warn patients could face 'perfect storm' this winter as people already dying unnecessarily

A&E doctors fear a ‘perfect storm’ this winter as patients are already dying unnecessarily every week.

Around 150 of the UK's leading front-line doctors have said they are very worried about the pressure their Emergency Departments (EDs) are facing this winter. Already sick patients are currently stuck in corridors and on chairs for “hours upon hour”, but they are now facing a “terrible winter”.

A disturbing survey found a massive 91 per cent of these top doctors were either ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ concerned about the pressure their departments will experience during the winter months.

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The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), who organised the research, says this should serve as a “stark reminder to the government that action is needed right now to avert disaster ”. The NHS was recently handed a £140 million boost to urgent care to help ease winter pressures on the health service.

The investment will go to 14 new urgent care schemes across England, including new urgent treatment centres (UTCs) and same day emergency care services (SDECs), new ambulance fleets, and emergency department upgrades. B ut the RCEM said the current plans, including what was announced last weekend, “won’t cut it”.

In total 163 ED clinical leads – the doctors in charge of most of the A&E departments in the country - responded to a survey asking how they are managing and their views ahead of winter. Only 3% of those quizzed said they were 'well prepared' for the cold months.

Last weekend, the Department of Health and Social Care announced £150m for 14 new urgent care schemes across England. RCEM welcomed this investment into Urgent and Emergency Care but maintains that money is still not being spent in the right places.

Dr Ian Higginson, RCEM President, said: "Overcrowding, corridor care, the impending surge of demand from winter, and lack of meaningful preparations, are creating perfect conditions for a terrible winter. Colleagues from across the four nations have been crystal clear: we are not managing now and we simply are not ready for winter.

"We have patients scattered all over our departments, many stuck in trolleys or on chairs for hours upon hours. The sickest and most injured among them can't get into a hospital bed and end up staying with us, sometimes for days.

"It's a disgraceful state of affairs and I cannot believe it has been allowed to get this bad. Patients are dying unnecessarily every week whilst politicians continue to focus on the wrong solutions."

More than nine in 10 (92%) of survey respondents described current ED pressure as 'high' or 'very high', while 88% said they were under greater strain now than last year. Around two thirds said their ED was unsafe. Dr Higginson said: "With year-round pressure hitting departments, the vast majority of us have no spare capacity to help deal with the cold months.

"It was not always this way.