Fury as video of NHS waiting time goes viral as Javid says service is like ‘Blockbuster video’

Patients being told they might have to wait for up to 13 hours to see a doctor in an overcrowded A&E department is “not what anyone wants to see”, the Health Secretary has said.

Sajid Javid was played a clip of a nurse speaking to the crowd of people in Harlow A&E, run by Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust in Essex.

The nurse was filmed addressing people waiting in the department on Monday evening, saying: “We’ve currently got 170 patients in the department, there are 90 patients waiting to be seen at the moment.

“Our current wait time for a doctor is seven and a half hours.

“I will estimate by the time I go home in the morning at 8 o‘clock some of you will still be here waiting for a doctor because the waits will get up to 12 or 13 hours.

“There are currently no beds in the trust. We’re trying to make more space if we can but if people are admitted there’s a chance they’ll stay in A&E overnight.

“We will do our best to make you comfortable, we will do our best to look after you, but please don’t expect you will be going direct to a ward because that might not happen.”

She also asked relatives to leave due to space constraints.

Mr Javid said the NHS is seeing “very high levels of demand” in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

After listening to the clip on BBC Breakfast, Mr Javid said: “Of course that’s not a thing that anyone wants to see.”

Watch

The video has been seen over a million times.

Reactions

1.

My local A&E last night. pic.twitter.com/B2OXKb2DNs

— Gary Sitton (@SittonGary) June 7, 2022

2.

A result of Tory NHS underfunding… https://t.co/vvHxqCnhBc

— Warwick Hunt #Revolution #FreeAssange (@WarwickHunt4) June 8, 2022

3.

Thank you for sharing this @SittonGary A GP yesterday described the situation in #NHS & social care as being like “World War 3”. Sadly she was not exaggerating.Until you have a problem & see it up close many still don’t realise it’s chronically underfunded & understaffed. So sad https://t.co/uFDXF521IT

— Colin McFarlane🙏🏽🇺🇦 (@colinmcfarlane) June 8, 2022

4.

Little reminder that unless you’re rich enough to not need them, this government hates you: https://t.co/RyYuBmJK8x

— Shaun Keaveny 💙 (@shaunwkeaveny) June 8, 2022

5.

bleak https://t.co/gFfzeJ4GC5

— Ed West (@edwest) June 8, 2022

6.

🚄@BorisJohnson will be sure to come out fighting in #PMQs by focusing on the rail strikes.

🏥But I suspect @Keir_Starmer will be tempted to just recite this NHS nightmare.

🚨A&E patients told they will have to wait 12/13 hours for a hospital doctor. https://t.co/grRysGxQSW

— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) June 8, 2022

7.

The NHS is broken. OFFICIAL.
Remember that Boris Johnson was the Prime Minister when the NHS broke. This happened on HIS watch. He'll blame COVID, but we know. It was under huge pressure before the pandemic.#nhscrisis #NHS #NetflixNHS @theJeremyVine @GNev2 @doctor_oxford https://t.co/VfqUtUOiFa

— An Eagle Flying On The Breeze (@simonplewis) June 8, 2022

8.

https://twitter.com/marknlou/status/1534411301635645440

9.

This is all down to Brexit, nothing else.
The NHS has lost tens of thousands of staff because of it.
There is no other realistic explanation. #BrexitBritain #BrexitHasFailed #BrexitReality https://t.co/Vs2o4d3CEd

— Ted Smith 🇪🇺 (@TedUrchin) June 7, 2022

10.

This must be what they mean by Johnson and his cronies "getting the big calls right" https://t.co/Hmz6Pz0SNm

— Jeff Goulding (@ShanklysBoys1) June 8, 2022

Related: Fury as Javid likens NHS to defunct Blockbuster in ‘the age of Netflix’