Hospital consultant describes 'unprecedented' pressure on A&E

Dr Gareth Roberts told the BBC he had seen a surge in demand for A&E services this winter

A hospital consultant has described the level of demand for A&E services this winter as "unprecedented".

Dr Gareth Roberts, chief medical officer of Frimley Health NHS trust, said emergency wards were the busiest they had been "in living memory".

He told the BBC it had taken a "huge herculean effort" from staff to keep patients safe and said ambulances had been left queuing outside hospitals.

Dr Roberts blamed "complex and multi-faceted issues" for the problems.

Frimley Park Hospital has endured high demand during the winter period

The trust, which runs Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, Berkshire, and Frimley Park Hospital near Camberley in Surrey, declared a critical incident in December due to the high volume of patients.

Dr Roberts said this allowed the hospitals to ensure they had the right resources available and could call on extra help from their social care partners, GPs and other agencies like the Red Cross.

"We normally expect things to be busier over the winter period," he said.

"But what we're seeing this time round has been far greater than we've experienced in living memory."

'Clinical need'

He said the surge in demand was "most visible at the front door of A&E".

"It represents increased demand in social care, increased demand in primary care, increased demand for patients who required urgent and emergency care... and it's all very much a culmination of different types of infection this time round.

"We're seeing more in the way of flu and that's affecting people with lots of other conditions as well."

Dr Roberts reassured those who needed emergency or urgent care that patients were being triaged quickly on arrival at A&E and being treated in order of clinical need.

"It's unprecedented really," he added.

"It's not a situation many of us have experienced in our working lives on a sustained basis."

Dr Roberts' warning came after Health Secretary Steve Barclay admitted flu and Covid had put "massive pressure"on the NHS and that clearing backlogs would "take time".