Time Wasters Costing NHS Millions

Time Wasters Crippling NHS By Millions Every Year

The National Health Service is not only having to struggle with relentless and ruthless Government cut-backs in every hospital department, but the latest figures reveal that to add insult to injury it is also being crippled by millions of time wasting people which are inadvertently costing the NHS an absolute fortune every year.

Hospitals Accident and Emergency Wards are crammed full of patients seeking attention for many non-life threatening trivial ailments, including nose bleeds, stomach-aches and other everyday problems that their local health clinic or on duty pharmacist could easily take care of for them.

In England alone last year these time-wasters cost the NHS a staggering £136 million clogging up the waiting rooms with minor ailments,  but when you take into consideration the country united as a whole, the total cost could well be reaching billions.

Figures released for the Co-Op and London Ambulance Service reveal that of the 15.9 million people that attended A&E departments in England and Wales in 2010, only 22 per cent of the patients had to be kept in hospital.

Some of these patients attending casualty are adding to the soaring NHS costs by ringing 999 for an ambulance when it isn’t really necessary.

Richard Webber of the London Ambulance Services said:

“We urge patients with minor illnesses and injuries to consider other options before calling 999.”