NHS under pressure: 'We're directing more people to A&E'

The number of A&E visits in England has soared by more than 400,000 so far this financial year, doctors have told MPs.

The College of Emergency Medicine said that was the equivalent of filling an extra nine emergency departments.

Dr Clifford Mann, the president of the College of Emergency Medicine, said that more people were being directed to emergency units, partly because of the NHS 111 medical helpline.