treatment where you live. our health correspondent sophie hutchinson explains. hospitals are under pressure like never before. some staff have even said they re working right at the edge of what they can manage. here in newcastle, they say the pressure in a&e is as much as 50% greater than before the pandemic, and they can t see an end to it. usually at the end of winter we would look forward, but nobody knows if this is going to happen this time. right across the nhs there are more patients and they are sicker. because so many who needed treatment didn t get it in previous waves of the pandemic. patients with chronic conditions like dawn, who has crohn s disease, are forced to go to a&e because their specialist clinics are still closed. so many other people have had so much more urgent needs than i have, and i think it s terrible
in england last month a new record. but the average response time last month for ambulances in england to deal with the most serious incidents fell to nine minutes ten seconds, slightly down from october. our health correspondent, sophie hutchinson, has this report. hospitals are under pressure like never before. some staff have even said they re working right at the edge of what they can manage. here in newcastle, they say the pressure in a&e is as much as 50% greater than before the pandemic, and they can t see an end to it. usually the end of winter we would look forward to, but nobody knows if that is actually going to happen this time. right across the nhs, there are more patients and they are sicker because so many who needed treatment didn t get it during the previous waves of the pandemic, and like many patients with chronic conditions, dawn, who has crohn s disease, has been forced to come to this a&e because her specialist clinics
can t see an end to it. usually the end of winter we would look forward to, but nobody knows if that is actually going to happen this time. right across the nhs, there are more patients and they are sicker because so many who needed treatment didn t get it during the previous waves of the pandemic, and like many patients with chronic conditions, dawn, who has crohn s disease, has been forced to come to this a&e because her specialist clinics in a different area is still closed. crohn s clinics at the royal victoria are still open. so many other people have got so much more urgent needs than i have, and i think it s terrible that people are being, you know, left, basically, to. you know, it s almost like people are having to have to fend for themselves rather than getting the support they need properly. the potential threat from the new variant isn t helping. documents from government adviser sage say that
months ago before that he was a talented soccer player who loved singing. his father manages to keep the family going with odd jobs but he has no idea how he ll ever manage to pay for his son s treatment didn t you can imagine what it s like you have a son he s happy healthy boy he plays soccer he s always having fun even one of the best players then comes the shock of your life on the street. my dad was standing outside our house when i found out that i had cancer he didn t want to come in i saw him crying and i said to him dad you mustn t give up i don t want to see a single tear fall. but it s hard to find hope here in the overcrowded oncology unit at a hospital in gaza city there s a shortage of most things medicines painkillers and medical equipment
definitely do. now to the question of how to treat cancer in the gaza strip the best option is to go to israel for the right there but that means leaving home and family and jumping through administrative hoops it s a symptom of how the decades long conflict in the region affects the most personal stories did any of all of one teenager who had to leave everything he knew to get a chance at a future. mahmoud is 13 years old she was diagnosed with bone cancer 18 months ago before that he was a talented soccer player who loved singing. his father manages to keep the family going with odd jobs but he has no idea how he ll ever manage to pay for his son s treatment didn t you can imagine what it s like you have a son he s happy healthy boy you play soccer he s always having fun even one of the best players then comes the shock of your life. my dad