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NHS trolley waits hit record high Leak shows full extent of NHS winter crisis
(35 minutes later)
Record numbers of patients have faced long "trolley waits" for a bed after being admitted into hospital as an emergency in England, according to documents leaked to the BBC. Record numbers of patients are facing long waits in A&Es as documents leaked to the BBC show the full extent of the winter crisis in the NHS in England.
Last week more than 18,000 patients waited over four hours for a bed, the NHS Improvement data shows. Nearly a quarter of patients waited longer than four hours at A&E last week with just one hospital hitting its target.
Some 485 waited over 12 hours - treble the number who waited that long during the whole of January last year. And huge numbers also faced long waits for a bed when A&E staff admitted them into hospital as emergency cases.
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt had said most hospitals had been coping well. There were over 18,000 "trolley waits" of over four hours last week.
On Monday morning, the Health Secretary said "one or two" hospitals have been under severe pressure. Some 485 of them were for over 12 hours - trebled the number seen during the whole of January last year.
On Sunday 8 January one trust - the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, based in Stoke on Trent - was responsible for 20 out of the 29 cases where patients waited on trolleys for more than 12 hours. The figures come from a document compiled by NHS Improvement, one of the regulators in England, and show this winter is proving to be the most difficult for a generation.
The trust also had by far the most trolley waits over 12 hours on the other days for which we have data - 3 January - 38 out of a total of 138 for England, and 5 January - 33 out of a total of 71. Since the start of December hospitals have only seen 82.3% of patients who attended A&E within the four-hour target.
The data, recorded by NHS Improvement, covers the seven days between Monday 2 January and Sunday 8 January 2017. That is the worst performance since the target was introduced in 2004.
The trolley waits are also at their highest ever levels.
Chris Hopson, of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals, said what was being seen was not "ordinary winter pressures".
"Trusts are really struggling," he added.
It comes after the British Red Cross said over the weekend the NHS was facing a "humanitarian crisis" this winter.
Ministers have denied this is the case, with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt saying on Monday the health service was coping well given the increasing demands.