Plymouth doctor brands emergency departments as 'unsafe' as hospitals overwhelmed
A senior doctor in the West Country has described the conditions at A&E departments as 'unsafe'.
Dr Ian Higginson, an emergency department consultant at Plymouth's Derriford Hospital, says the state of healthcare is causing people to die in hospitals.
He said: "For many of us working in emergency medicine, we've never seen it as bad as it is now.
"What we are seeing is a crisis situation in most, if not all of the emergency departments across the UK at the moment.
"It's unquestionably a matter of life and death for many hundreds of patients at the moment."
Dr Higginson's words come as several trusts in the region have declared a critical incident over the Christmas period.
South Western Ambulance Service has declared a critical incident (28 December) due to the extreme demand faced following the four-day Christmas break.
Cornwall's health and care system also declared it was operating at a 'critical incident level' a few days before Christmas (December 20).
A spokesperson from NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care System said: "As a result of the acute pressure on all health and care services in Cornwall, we have escalated our operational level to a system critical incident."
Hospitals are facing soaring demands, which experts believe is in part driven by winter illnesses like flu and Covid.
Dr Higginson described the situation as a "national scandal".
He said: "The implication for patients are when they come to our emergency departments we can't offer the standard of care that we would like to.
"Our hospitals are full and patients are having to wait a long time both to see staff and get admitted if they need to be admitted.
"They may be treated in corridors or other inappropriate places by over-stretched staff who are trying to look after far too many patients".
Last month, figures revealed that hospitals in the South West were amongst the worst for ambulance handover times in the country.
The South Western Ambulance Service was continuing to miss targets when responding to the most serious cases.
The trust covers 20 per cent of England, from Swindon to the Isles of Scilly.
According to Dr Higginson, a large part of the problem is the amount of time it takes for a patient to be handed over by ambulance to A&E, and the problem is getting worse.
He said: "Because we're full we don't see patients waiting in ambulances in our car parks and it's very difficult to treat those patients.
"Then, because the ambulances are in our car parks, we can't get ambulances out to patients who need them.
"All along the chain patients are having an unsatisfactory experience and it simply isn't safe at the moment."
NHS services across the region are urging people to only call 999 for life-threatening emergencies and rely on 111 for advice and support.