NHS braced for 'toughest winter' after A&Es and ambulances faced record-breaking October

A&E departments and ambulance crews faced their busiest October connected grounds - and present the NHS is braced for "one of the toughest winters the wellness work has faced".

New figures from NHS England revealed up to 40% of those attending A&E are already waiting longer than 4 hours, with the fig surging from 129,004 patients successful September to 142,734 successful October.

Of those admitted to infirmary aft attending an mishap oregon exigency department, 1 successful 10 are having to hold 12 hours oregon longer for a furniture - 54,314 successful October, up from 44,765 successful September.

Waits for cancer attraction are besides rising, the figures revealed.

In September, 73.9% of patients who suspected they had crab had the illness either diagnosed oregon ruled retired wrong 28 days, down from 74.6% successful August, and beneath the people of 75%.

In the aforesaid period, the proportionality of patients who had waited nary longer than 62 days for their archetypal definitive crab attraction fell from 69.1% to 67.9%.

It comes arsenic thousands of nonmigratory doctors crossed England are preparing to onslaught for 5 days from 7am connected Friday.

Overall, an estimated 7.39 cardinal treatments were waiting to beryllium carried retired astatine the extremity of September, relating to 6.24 cardinal patients, down from 7.41 cardinal treatments and 6.25 cardinal patients astatine the extremity of August.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the flimsy diminution connected the fig waiting for attraction was grounds the NHS was "now connected the roadworthy to recovery".

But Meghana Pandit, NHS nationalist aesculapian director, warned that services would beryllium pushed to capableness this winter.

She said: "It is fantastic quality that the wellness work managed to get the waiting database down successful September, but there's nary uncertainty NHS unit volition beryllium approaching their limits this winter.

"Flu is peaking aboriginal and looking similar it volition beryllium agelong lasting, portion concern enactment starting connected Friday comes connected the backmost of the busiest October successful A&E successful NHS history."

To easiness the pressure, she urged the nationalist to get flu, COVID, and RSV jabs, to usage the NHS 111 helpline for non-urgent help, and to lone telephone 999 oregon be A&E for life-threatening emergencies.

Tim Gardner, adjunct manager of argumentation astatine the Health Foundation, painted a likewise ominous picture.

He said: "The figures contiguous a challenging outlook for the NHS, peculiarly arsenic it heads into what NHS leaders person warned is apt to beryllium 1 of the toughest winters the wellness work has faced."

It came as, astatine the extremity of September, an estimated 1,489 patients were waiting much than 18 months to commencement regular infirmary treatment, up from 1,418 successful August.

But wellness chiefs noted that the fig stood astatine 2,701 a twelvemonth earlier, successful September 2024.

There was besides a driblet successful the fig of radical waiting much than a twelvemonth to commencement regular infirmary treatment, from 190,549 astatine the extremity of August to 180,329 a period later.

The fig present represents 2.4% of the total, down from 2.6% a period earlier - with a extremity to get it beneath 1% by March adjacent year.

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14.4 cardinal flu vaccines person besides been delivered truthful acold this autumn - immoderate 160,000 much than astatine the aforesaid constituent past year.

Mr Streeting said: "The past twelvemonth is the archetypal clip successful 15 years that waiting lists person fallen.

"There's a agelong mode to go, but the NHS is present connected the roadworthy to recovery," helium added.