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Elderly man dies after waiting 52 hours in A&E as hospitals ‘busier than ever’
An Accident and Emergency sign

THE shocking case of an elderly man left unable to swallow after waiting 52 hours in A&E has raised fresh concerns over the state of NHS urgent care.

The 85-year-old was sent to a hospital emergency department after a routine appointment, but died four weeks after spending most of the delay on a bed in the corridor.

A report from the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) said the Parkinson’s sufferer’s condition deteriorated as he was not given the regular medication he needed.

The NHS is now facing a “quad-demic” of disease going into winter amid rising cases of flu, Covid-19, norovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said ambulances are facing huge demand with flu and norovirus numbers in hospital rising sharply.

“For a while there have been warnings of a ‘tripledemic’ of Covid, flu and RSV this winter, but with rising cases of norovirus this could fast become a ‘quad-demic’,” he said.

The Royal College of Nursing warned there is a “barely a spare bed in the NHS.”

The total number of NHS hospital beds has fallen by more than half since the late 1980s, from 299,000 in 1987-88 to just 141,000 by 2019-2020.

NHS Providers, a membership organisation which takes part in negotiations between trusts and the Department of Health, called for a “healthy dose of realism” after the government vowed that 92 per cent of patients will be seen within 18 weeks for pre-planned care by July 2029.

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