Doctors today raised “real concern” following a fall in London patients seeking hospital care for heart attack and stroke symptoms.
St George’s hospital said it was only seeing about five heart attack patients a week — about a third of the usual number. Its stroke unit normally admits about 120 to 170 patients a month but has only had about 70 this month.
This adds to concerns that coronavirus has caused patients to shun hospital care which experts believe may account for the higher non-Covid-19 death toll in homes and care homes.
The number turning up at A&E in England last month was down 29 per cent — about 600,000 visits — on a year earlier, a record low.
Separate data from Public Health England shows those seen in hospital with a suspected heart attack has halved to 150 a day since March 1.
St George’s consultant cardiologist Dr Sam Firoozi said people should seek help if they experience symptoms such as chest tightness, pain or breathlessness.