More than a million patients face waiting more than four hours in A&E as the NHS heads for its “worst-ever” winter, new analysis shows.
The BMA fears 297,271 patients will end up waiting on trolleys this winter.
Worst-case scenario analysis, based on data from previous years, was released on the day Nottingham University Hospitals Trust declared a “critical incident” due to pressure on its emergency services.
Simon Walsh, BMA emergency medicine lead, said 10,000 more NHS beds were desperately needed.
And BMA chairman Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: “Enough is enough. Right across the health service, trusts and GP practices will be bracing themselves for what looks set to be the worst winter the NHS has ever endured.
"Patients should not fear needing hospital care.”
Simon Walsh, the BMA’s emergency medicine lead said the chief executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens, had already acknowledged the need for more hospital beds than last winter.
But he added: “The problem is that trusts don’t have the funding or staff to do that.” He called on the Government to “acknowledge the scale of the problem and to fund these additional beds”.
The BMA wants NHS spending to rise by at least 4.1% each year. Since austerity began in 2010, it has been nearer 2%.
The NHS has more than 100,000 vacancies and data shows operations called off for non-clinical reasons have increased by 32% in the past two years.
Waiting times are also the worst on record. The NHS is considering abolishing the four-hour A&E target after the Tories ordered the historic standard to be reviewed.
Nottingham was the worst performing trust against the target in the final quarter of 2018-19, with just 63% of cases dealt with in the time frame.
An internal alert, leaked to the Health Service Journal, said the trust was experiencing “exceptional pressure”, with patient flow being the major issue.
Niall Dickson, of the NHS Confederation, said: “We are facing a ticking timebomb.” Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth added: “The NHS is in crisis under the Tories.”
President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Katherine Henderson, was “extremely concerned”.
