Eight in 10 nurses say A&E strain is putting lives at risk as bosses warn of hospital crisis to come this winter.

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More than eight in ten nurses warn that patients are being put in danger in overstretched A&E units, a poll has found.
Eighty-nine per cent said the pressures had grown in the last six months due to rising numbers of patients and too few staff.
And 85 per cent said casualty units are so busy patients were being put at risk. This included a fifth who said patients were being put in danger every day.

Under pressure: Nearly nine out of ten nurses said the pressures had grown in the last six months due to rising numbers of patients and too few staff

The Royal College of Nursing poll of 416 staff was published the same day that health bosses warned A&E units would be unable to cope with the surge in patients this winter unless urgent changes were made.
The NHS Confederation, which represents managers, said one solution could be to improve the care of older patients in their own homes to avoid them needing to be admitted to A&E.There is widespread concern over casualty units which have witnessed an unprecedented surge in patients.
Figures show that there were 21.7 million attendances last year, a 50 per cent rise compared with a decade ago when there were 14 million annually.
Meanwhile, figures from Labour show more than 901,000 patients spent more than four hours in A&E last year, up by a quarter on the previous year. Another 172,000 were kept waiting on trolleys for between four and 12 hours, a rise of almost 50 per cent.

Increasing numbers: 21.7¿million people were admitted to A&R last year, a 50 per cent rise compared with a decade ago

Nurses say patients are frequently being parked in trolleys in corridors, stationery cupboards or offices due to a bed shortage.
Dr Peter Carter, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: ‘Emergency services, and the staff working within them, are under increasing pressure which is putting patient safety at risk.
‘Staff enter the health profession to save, and improve, lives through first-class care. However they simply cannot deliver this if there are too few staff to properly treat and monitor the increasing numbers of patients.’
Experts believe the increase in A&E admissions is partly due to the public’s lack of faith in GP out-of-hours services and the ageing population.
Mike Farrar, chief executive of the NHS Confederation said: ‘We have known for some time that pressures on A&E are at their highest ever, and the honest picture is one of a service facing unprecedented demand.’
One in three nurses say managers are putting them under pressure to behave in ways that could harm patients, according to a survey. Many feel they are being urged to rush through tasks such as prescribing drugs or providing basic care.
A poll of 1,021 healthcare workers by the by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development also found that one in four doctors and surgeons has been pressured or bullied by managers to act in a way that could undermine patients.

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