News alert / Record A&E demand

NHS staff are managing record demand for emergency care ahead of winter, with new data showing type 1 accident and emergency (A&E) departments and ambulance services had their busiest month this year in October. According to NHS England, more than 2.2 million people attended A&E last month, making it the busiest October on record, and the busiest month so far this year for type 1 attendances. There were nearly 548,000 emergency admissions – the highest number since January 2020. Ambulance services also saw their busiest month this year for category 1 and category 2 ambulance callouts, while more than 850,000 calls to 999 were answered last month – the highest figure this year so far. Despite this and industrial action in September, year-long waits were down by 5,500 in September, while waits of more than 65 weeks have more than halved since their peak in June 2021. Waits of over one year are now down to 5% of the waiting list.