by the british red cross that hospitals and ambulance services are experiencing a humanitarian crisis . the charity said extra spending on health and social care was needed to make the system sustainable. dozens of a&e departments were forced to divert ambulances to other hospitals last week. the royal college of emergency medicine says the system is on its knees but the department of health says it s investing more money to improve services. dan johnson reports. winter pressure on accident and emergency nothing new, but the red cross now says the strain on hospitals in england amounts to a humanitarian crisis. the charity claims social care cuts mean patients are sent home without the right support, so then they end up back in a&e. red cross volunteers support nhs staff and say they ve seen patients sent home without clothes, some who don t receive the care they need to get washed, even some who ve fallen and not been found for days. a&e staff recognise the problems too.
even some who have fallen and not been found for days. a&e staff recognise the problems too. the pressures on the nhs and especially in emergency care are particularly intense at the moment. but what is more concerning is the number of patients who have been managed within four hours and then the delays to admission into the hospital bed base which unfortunately are very, very significant and our staff are working under some pretty intolerable conditions at times. and sometimes they just can t manage. figures from nhs england show that overflowing a&e departments had to close their doors to new patients more than 140 times over the last month. compare that to the same month in 2015 and it s up more than 60%. so is the strain costing lives? the humanitarian crisis? no, i think that s an overstatement at this stage. clearly, demand is very high and it s higher than it has ever been, but we have the most comprehensive plans in place that we ever had, but it is very difficult at
welcome to bbc news. the nhs in england has denied claims from the british red cross that there s a humanitarian crisis in its hospitals. latest figures show a&e departments have had to shut their doors to patients more than 140 times in december, because of a lack of beds. the red cross, which helps patients return home from hospital, is calling for more government money. but nhs england say plans are in place to cope with additional demand and that talk of a humanitarian crisis is overblown. our health correspondent, smitha mundasad, reports. winter pressure on accident and emergency nothing new. but the red cross now says the strain on hospitals in england amounts to a humanitarian crisis. the charity claims social care cuts mean patients are being sent home without the right support so they end up back in a&e. red cross volunteers support nhs staff and say they ve seen patients sent home without clothes. some who don t receive the care they need to get washed. even
welcome to bbc news. the nhs in england has denied claims from the british red cross that there s a humanitarian crisis in its hospitals. latest figures show a&e departments have had to shut their doors to patients more than 140 times in december, because of a lack of beds. the red cross, which helps patients return home from hospital, is calling for more government money. but nhs england say plans are in place to cope with additional demand and that talk of a humanitarian crisis is overblown. our health correspondent, smitha mundasad, reports. winter pressure on accident and emergency nothing new. but the red cross now says the strain on hospitals in england amounts to a humanitarian crisis. the charity claims social care cuts mean patients are being sent home without the right support so they end up back in a&e. red cross volunteers support nhs staff and say they ve seen patients sent home without clothes. some who don t receive the care they need to get washed. even
victory over reading scoring his 249th goal for his club. and potholes on the roads calls for an increase to fuel duty to raise £14 billion for repairs. stay with us here on bbc news. coming up in half an hour we report on how the latest artificial intelligence will change the way we make money. that s in talking business at 8.30pm. the nhs in england has rejected claims that there s a humanitarian crisis in its hospitals. the comments from the british red cross come as figures show a&e departments have had to shut their doors to patients more than 140 times in december because of a lack of beds. this afternoon the labour leaderjeremy corbyn called upon the government to take urgent action. but nhs england says plans are in place to cope and that talk of any humanitarian crisis is overblown. there are flashing images in smitha mundasad s report. winter pressures in accident and emergency some patients waiting a long time to be seen, beds closed because of the winte