Patients at risk in A&E 'perfect storm'

Accident and emergency departments are at the centre of a “perfect storm” that has left patients in danger, MPs were told today.

A rise of 250,000 admissions in the past year had left the system “at the limits of its tolerance”, the Commons health committee heard.

Dr Mike Clancy, president of the College of Emergency Medicine, said casualty units were inundated with admissions, especially out of hours and at weekends, partly as a result of patients’ inability to contact a GP.

“It’s the overcrowding that is one of the major challenges we face,” he said. “You should know that is dangerous.”

The claims were made as Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced plans to appoint a Chief Inspector of General Practice who will rate GPs in same way as schools and champion patients’ interests.