Princess Alexandra Hospital A&E patients warned of 13-hour wait

Patients being told they may have to wait for up to 13 hours to be seen in an emergency department is "not what anyone wants to see", Sajid Javid said.

The health secretary was reacting to footage showing a nurse addressing patients at Princess Alexandra Hospital, in Harlow, Essex, on Monday.

Patients were told the wait time was seven-and-a-half hours, with warnings some may not be seen for much longer.

The hospital said there was "extremely high demand" on the department.

The footage was posted on Twitter and Mr Javid listened to the clip on BBC Breakfast.

"Because of the impact of Covid... we know already from our NHS estimates, we think some 11 to 13 million people stayed away from the NHS because of the pandemic," he said.

"Many of those people are coming forward, many of those to A&E, and we're seeing very high levels of demand.

"That is a real challenge for the NHS across the system."

Tony Durcan, the Royal College of Nursing's senior officer for Essex, said the union's members were "nursing under unsustainable pressure".

"The government is risking lives by failing to take urgent action," he said.

"Nursing staff are being driven out of a job they once loved. They are tired, fed up, demoralised, and they feel undervalued for the complex and skilled work that they perform day in, day out."

Mr Javid said the government was investing "record amounts" in the NHS, including funding for ambulance trusts, the 111 on-call and online information service, and accident and emergency facilities across the country.

"So I think the NHS is doing everything it possibly can be doing," he said.

"The waiting times are improving, but it's not what anyone wants to see, those kind of waits."

Conservative MP for Harlow, Robert Halfon, who was due to meet the health secretary, said: "The first thing I have to say is that the staff there are second to none - everyone tries to provide Harlow residents with a service that's wonderful.

"There are a number of issues here. First of all, even before Covid, we had amongst the highest accident and emergency use in England per head.

"We also have problems with the space in the hospital, which is why we are getting a new hospital.

"Nevertheless it's upsetting to see the video online."

He said there were also "very complex issues", including people struggling to get GP appointments and the backlog caused by the Covid pandemic.

In November the Care Quality Commission published a report that rated the Princess Alexandra Hospital as "requires improvement" overall, with the hospital's emergency department rated "inadequate".

The CQC report said inspectors had to intervene after seeing two deteriorating patients waiting in a corridor.

Stephanie Lawton, chief operating officer at the NHS Trust, said it had seen a "significant increase in attendances in our emergency department".

"Our teams are working hard to assess and treat patients as quickly and effectively as possible to reduce delays, prioritising those in most clinical need," she said.

She urged members of the public to ease pressures by using the NHS 111 service for healthcare advice in non-urgent cases.

It's unusual to see videos like this with NHS staff being so candid about the pressures. But what's being described here is far from unique.  

Over recent months, a quarter of patients have been waiting more than four hours to be seen in A&E in England. The situation is even worse in Wales and Northern Ireland.  

And even when they are seen, those who need to be admitted on to a ward for further treatment can face many hours in bays and corridors before a bed can be found.  

Waits have been worsening for the best part of a decade - and Covid has exacerbated the situation. 

People stayed away from the NHS during the first part of the pandemic and it means those seeking help now are more sick and have more complex conditions. 

The NHS is also struggling to free up beds to get new patients in.

That's because of a lack of care in the community for those patients who are medically fit to leave hospital but need support in place to return home. Some are kept in for weeks before they can be discharged. 

On top of this, the NHS is short of staff. One in 12 posts is unfilled. The problems are creating bottlenecks throughout the system. 

During Prime Minister's Questions, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told the prime minister a "failure to fix wanting and inadequate NHS buildings" was "putting patients at risk".

"He [Boris Johnson] scrapped zero tolerance of 12-hour waits at A&E. 24 Hours in A&E used to be a TV programme, now it's policy," he added.

Mr Johnson dismissed Sir Keir's comments and said his government were "building 48 new hospitals thanks to the biggest capital investment programme in the NHS".

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]