by dangerous delays. crews are enduring long waits outside accident and emergency departments in england, because hospitals are struggling to deal with overcrowded wards. nhs england says it has recruited more staff and increased bed capacity, but acknowledged the system was under considerable strain. sharon barbour reports. it s been a long night for margaret. there were ambulances backed up outside. two hours in an ambulance. finally able to get off the ambulance and into a&e, margaret then faced a long wait. she told us she s been here for 14 hours. margaret s 73, and has had no sleep. what was it like last night when you came in to a&e? there were ambulances parked out there. there s ambulances parked out there today. there s no beds. you know, and there s people on trolleys in the corridors. waits in a&e here have been as long as 30 hours, with hospital bosses now warning of even worse to come, as they cope with a sharp rise this week and patients arriving. in the foot
sunshine breaking through. in the outer hebrides, severe gales this morning could lead to disruption. through the day across scotland and northern ireland, the wind easing. but we still have gusty winds and temperatures ranging in the north from eight to about 13 in the south. overnight, this is the heavy rain by pushing south and east. weakening all the time. a lot of cloud. hill snow in scotland. fog in north west scotland and northern ireland, where it will be cooler. pushing south across england and wales much milder. we have remnants of cloud and spots of rain. we will see brightness coming through. at the same time, showers coming up from the channel islands into the isle of wight, through dorset and pushing steadily northwards. temperatures