DIY A&E: Brits treat their wounds and make slings over fear of hospital waits

EMBARGO: 22.30 Monday 26th August

• Shocking new poll shows Brits giving up on going to A&E because the wait would be too long 

• Almost 1 in 3 who needed to visit A&E but decided the wait would be too long treated a wound themselves 

• Almost 1 in 5 of the same group directly ignored NHS advice telling them to go to A&E out of wait time fear

• Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader declares “DIY A&E epidemic” after years of health services being neglected 

A new poll commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed that people are suffering in pain or treating themselves rather than go to A&E out of fear of waiting times.

The poll reveals the lengths to which Brits went if they needed to use A&E in the past two years, but decided not to, over fears of waiting times. 

Staggeringly, almost 1 in 5 (18%) people who said they needed to use A&E but were worried about waiting times, said that they actively ignored the advice of their GP or the NHS 111 service to go to their local hospital. 

Shockingly, of those who needed A&E but did not go due to fear of waiting times, one in ten (11%) made homemade slings for their limbs, and almost one in three said that they either treated wounds themselves (31%) or prescribed themselves medication (32%).

Overall, a quarter of all UK adults (25%) have needed to go to A&E in the past two years but did not do so due to long waiting times. 

At the last election, the Liberal Democrats put health and care at the heart of their policy platform. They are calling on the new government to bring forward a plan to fix ambulance wait times by creating an emergency fund to reverse closures of community ambulance stations where needed, add 1,000 staffed beds to the NHS and inject funding for improvements to A&E Departments.

Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, Daisy Cooper MP said: 

“Nobody should ignore medical advice to go to A&E but the fact that so many are choosing to take urgent medical care into their own hands shows just how badly the previous Conservative government ran our NHS into the ground.

“From home-made slings to the self-care of wounds, Conservative Ministers have left behind an epidemic of DIY A&E. 

“There’s no time to waste: the new government must bring forward a plan to prevent a winter A&E waiting times crisis.”

ENDS 

Notes to Editors: 

Savanta interviewed 2,213 UK adults aged 18+ online on 16th to 18th August 2024. Data were weighted to be representative of the UK by age, sex, region, and social grade.

Full data here.

Q1. In the past 2 years, have you ever needed to visit A&E but decided not to because you thought it would take too long to be treated? Base: All respondents (n=2,213)

Q2. Which of the following, if any, have you done in the past 2 years because you thought it would take too long to be treated at A&E? Base: All respondents who needed to visit A&E but decided not to because they thought it would take too long to be treated (n=553)