One in three A&E patients don’t need to be there, says top NHS doctor

Up to a third of all patients who come to A&E wards in England do not need to be there, a leading doctor has said, in a frank admission that the NHS has not done enough to tell people where their a first port of call for medical care should be. Quoted in a report by the Independent newspaper, Professor Keith Willett said between “15 and 30 per cent of people who turn up to A&E could have been treated in general practice.” He added that more patients could be treated by paramedics, and even local pharmacists, to take the