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ENGLAND’S dwindling number of accident and emergency departments struggled again last week in the latest front-line symptom of the Tories’ £20 billion NHS cuts programme.
More than 5,000 accident and emergency patients who were ill enough to be admitted had to wait between four and 12 hours before hard-pressed staff could find them a bed. Nine people waited for more than 12.
It is the second week running when the official goal of treating, transferring or admitting 95 per cent of patients within four hours has been missed.
NHS campaigners have long warned on the impact of A&E closures — with hundreds of beds the latest to go last week at London’s Central Middlesex and Hammersmith hospitals.
Labour shadow health minister Jamie Reed said the figures should set “alarm bells ringing” and were closer to those expected in winter.
NHS watchdog Monitor dispatched a team to “review” services in Glossop, Derbyshire, yesterday and admitted that “the changes may involve moving some acute services provided at Tameside Hospital to hospitals nearby.”
