UK MPS have been warned over emergency departments overcrowding.<\/p>\n
A British medical expert has expressed concerns over overcrowding in accident and emergency (A&E) departments at hospitals in England, saying it could lead to more deaths.\n<\/p>\n
Speaking at the Parliament\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s Health Select Committee on Tuesday, President of the College of Emergency Medicine Mike Clancy said the number of patients attending major A&E units had been increased by 17 percent in the last decade.\n<\/p>\n
He warned that the overcrowding was \u00c5\u201cdangerous\u201d and associated \u00c5\u201cmortality and morbidity\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
Clancy also said that many hospital emergency departments have dropped the British government’s four-hour waiting target.\n<\/p>\n
It was revealed that in the last year the number of A&E patients who waited between four and 12 hours soared by 34,000.\n<\/p>\n
“What is happening in emergency departments reflects the performance and difficulties of the whole National Health System [NHS] as well as within the emergency department,” Clancy said.\n<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in a leaked letter seen by the Independent,<\/i> some 20 Accident and Emergency doctors warned that a combination of “toxic overcrowding” and \u00c5\u201cinstitutional exhaustion” is threatening patients\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 lives.\n<\/p>\n
Earlier in February, the think tank The King\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s Fund found that emergency queues at hospitals in England is at its highest in a decade.\n<\/p>\n
According to the organization\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s report, from October to December 2012, over 232,000 patients waited more than four hours in A&E wards, showing a rise of 21 percent when compared with the same period in 2011 and the highest figure for those months since 2003.\n<\/p>\n
SSM\/MOS\/HE<\/p>\n<\/div>\n