The number of people turning to A&E departments in England for minor ailments including hiccups, sore throats and coughs is soaring, as senior health leaders warn that NHS primary and community services are “hugely overstretched”.
NHS data shows a big increase in the number of people arriving at A&E for non-emergency conditions including back pain, insomnia and earache.
The increase is putting enormous pressure on already busy hospitals, creating a ‘vicious circle’ in which there is less capacity to treat people in need of urgent care.
A data analysis by news agency PA Media found that there were 257,915 A&E visits due to earache in 2023-2024 – a 10% increase on the previous year.
There was a 13% increase in the number of visits from people seeking help for back pain, from 324,443 in 2022-23 to 365,327 in 2023-24.
In the same period, cases where headache was the main complaint increased by 12%, from 379,127 to 423,297, and complaints of cough increased by 15%, from 322,500 to 369,264.
Emergency departments experienced a 15% increase in visitors for insomnia, an 18% increase in visitors for hiccups, an 11% increase for nasal congestion and a 10% increase in nosebleeds. A total of 324,550 visitors were due to sore throats.
Health officials estimate that up to two-fifths of emergency room visits are avoidable or better treated elsewhere.
Dr. Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said the turnout was “symptomatic” of “problems that permeate the entire healthcare system”.
“Like our emergency departments, which are routinely overcrowded, primary and community services are hugely overstretched. It is no surprise that people are turning to emergency rooms for treatment of minor problems,” he said.
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This in turn placed additional demands on emergency teams who were already dealing with the added pressures of winter, Boyle said. “This is a vicious cycle that means there is less capacity to treat the people who need urgent care most.”
Dr. Tim Cooksley, former president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said patients were losing confidence in their ability to access primary or community care. “They will access whatever care they can in desperate times and have often sought alternatives before presenting.”
Professor Julian Redhead, NHS England’s clinical director for emergency care, said emergency departments were experiencing “record levels of demand”, and urged the public to “play their part” by only turning to them for serious injuries or life-threatening emergencies.