The number of patients being turned away from A&E and sent to other hospitals is at a record high, figures show, revealing the huge pressure the NHS faces this winter.
More patients arriving by ambulance were redirected to other hospitals this year compared with the same period over the last four years. Such incidents are referred to as diverts. The NHS has previously said that diverts caused by lack of physical or staff capacity should be a last resort.
Guardian analysis of NHS England data showed that from 2 to 23 December the number of patients forced to go elsewhere increased by 73% to 95 compared with the previous year, when the number was 55. There were 60 incidences in 2014 and 16 in 2013 – 2012 figures could not be included because of how they were recorded.
The rising trend has prompted concern that patients’ health could suffer as a result of the delay to them receiving medical attention due to diverts.
The chief executive of the Patients’ Association, Katherine Murphy, said ambulance diversions meant it took longer for patients to get care. “When someone needs access to care they need it. Diverting isn’t an answer to providing a safe system,” she said.
Murphy added that there was huge pressure on hospitals now all year around, not just in the winter period. She put this down to the fact that patients often stayed in hospital longer than necessary because of inadequate social service provision. This meant those who needed an acute bed often had to go to another hospital.
An NHS England spokesperson said: “Common sense means that ambulances spread the emergency load between neighbouring hospitals, including a very small number of diverts – 19 [in the week before Christmas] compared with an average of 20 a week over the past year. While hospitals are under pressure they have generally been coping with the increased number and severity of winter illnesses.”
While the NHS says that there were only 19 in the week leading up to Christmas, there were 36 diverts from 12 to 18 December, with the weekly average up on last year.
Dr Mark Porter, the British Medical Association chair of council, said: “Every one of these diverts is a patient unable to get the treatment they need from an overstretched NHS, deprived of resources and failing to keep up with rising demand. Frontline staff are under serious pressure and are working flat out, but the system can’t cope with the number of patients needing to move through acute care, as it is congested.
“We can only get to grips with pressure on A&E if every part of the system – from general practice to social care – is adequately funded, supported and working well.”
In October the performance of hospitals against the crucial target of 95% of A&E patients being treated and either admitted, discharged or transferred within four hours was the fourth worst since records began.
The NHS is on track to have its most difficult winter ever. A total of 785,883 patients – up from 613,971 last year – could end up waiting more than the supposed maximum four hours for A&E care in the December to February months. This is based on a 28% year-on-year rise in such delays seen each year between 2010-11 and 2015-16, according to Incisive Health, a specialist health communications and policy firm.
Meanwhile, the number of cases of norovirus is at a five-year high. Data from Public Health England shows the bug had reached 2,435 this season, 12% more than the average for the same period over the last five years.
The shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said A&Es up and down the country were under pressure. “Not only do we now know the scale of diverts, we also know that over recent months hundreds of thousands of patients have been forced to wait longer than four hours in A&Es. As well as this, more and more patients are increasingly waiting on trolleys.”
Sharp rise in number of patients turned away from A&E
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