Greater Manchester A&E doctor says exhausted staff at breaking point

Medics have no choice but to treat patients in ambulances, the doctor said

A senior A&E doctor has told how under-pressure staff are exhausted and at breaking point due to huge pressures on the NHS.

The Greater Manchester medic said conditions were so bad that staff were reluctant to go into work, a situation they described as "soul destroying".

They said patients faced a 30-hour wait to see an inpatient medical doctor.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to take "urgent action" as A&E waits are at their worst levels on record.

This includes providing the NHS with £250m to buy beds in care homes to free up hospital beds.

The doctor, who has asked to remain anonymous, told BBC Radio Manchester: "Just when you think a shift can't get any worse, it does.

"Recently there were 180 patients in the department which was way over capacity.

"Patients lucky enough to have a bed or trolley line every corridor."

'Working flat out'

They said there was a three-hour wait for patients to be triaged by the nurse.

"Until that point we don't know how sick someone is or even what they've presented with," they said.

"Patients then had to wait eight hours before they could see a doctor."

If patients were deemed sick enough to be admitted, they said there was a 30-hour wait to be seen by the inpatient medical doctor despite staff "working flat out".

They said this meant there was "no physical space" to offload ambulance patients and doctors had "no alternative" but to go into ambulances to assess the sickest patients.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to take "urgent action" to ease the pressures on the NHS

They said: "Can you imagine the worst day of your life, needing to be in hospital and having to wait days on a corridor, with no privacy [or] dignity?

"We are unable to give [patients] the care they deserve.

"I do not want to put patients off coming when they need to - we will find a way to treat you in amongst the chaos.

"Yet we need to be honest about the conditions right now."

They said many of the staff were "running on adrenaline but this will run out", adding seeing colleagues "tired and breaking and not wanting to come back to their next shift" was "soul destroying".

The doctor worries patients will wait too long for emergency treatment and be even sicker

It comes as Unite union said a meeting earlier with government ministers aimed at resolving NHS strikes in a dispute over pay and conditions did not go well.

An NHS spokeswoman acknowledged the pressure across the healthcare system.

"We appreciate the efforts staff have gone to throughout a period of sustained pressure; and are committed to supporting our workforce," she said.

"We have a number of well-being programmes in place and are working with key partners to address some of the issues raised.

"Our focus is on making sure patients are safe and that critical services can keep running."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said it recognised the pressures the NHS was facing following the impact of the pandemic.

It said the department was "working tirelessly to ensure people get the care they need, backed by up to £14.1bn additional funding for health and social care over the next two years".

"This includes investing an additional £500m to speed up the safe discharge of patients from hospital, creating the equivalent of 7,000 more beds nationally."

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