UK’s Healthcare Crisis

Despite being able to get your NHS prescriptions from online pharmacies, the NHS is incredibly understaffed. It is believed that the NHS is short of 12,000 hospital doctors, and 50,000 nurses and midwives. The healthcare crisis is also causing long waiting times for ambulances, to supply urgent care for those who desperately need it.

We wanted to look at which areas of the UK were being affected by the healthcare crisis the most. We’ve looked into A&E visits, GP appointments, and waiting lists for treatment, to find out the areas that are struggling the most.

Hospitals with the most A&E visits

Greater Manchester hospitals had the most A&E patients with 7,200 visits per 100,000, more than any other NHS Trust.

We’ve looked at the catchment areas and A&E patients to see which NHS Trusts had the most visitors in the accident and emergency unit per 100,000 people in the final quarter of 2022.

1

Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust

7,279

A&E visits per 100,000 people

Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust takes the top spot with over 7,000 visits to A&E per 100,000. This NHS trust, located in Greater Manchester, had almost 100,000 A&E patients in the last three months of 2022. The NCA FT has over 20,000 staff who support 1.3 million people within its catchment area.

2

Croydon Health Services NHS Trust

6,845

A&E visits per 100,000 people

Croydon Health Services NHS Trust takes second place with 6,800 A&E visits per 100,000 people. In total, Croydon Health Services had just over 50,000 patients in the last quarter of 2022. Croydon Health Services has one of the youngest catchment areas in London, with almost a third of the 750,000 people under the age of 25.

3

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

6,607

A&E visits per 100,000 people

Completing our top three is Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust with 6,600 A&E visits per 100,000 people. Blackpool Teaching Hospitals had 57,000 A&E visitors in the last quarter of 2022, in a region which not only serves the Fylde coast but also the millions of people who visit Blackpool every year.

First map
Key: NHS trust catchment population Total attendances Attendances per 100,000 people

NHS Trust

Region

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Areas with the most people on waiting lists

16,000 people per 100,000 are on waiting lists for treatment in Castle Point and Rochford, the highest in the UK

We’ve revealed the UK areas with the highest number of people on waiting lists for treatment per 100,000.

1

Castle Point and Rochford

16,753

On the waiting list per 100,000

The hospital with the most people on the waiting list per 100,000 is NHS Castle Point and Rochford with 16,700 people waiting to be treated. In total, Castle Point and Rochford have almost 30,000 people on the waiting list for various treatments.

2

Southend

16,379

On the waiting list per 100,000

Castle Point and Rochford’s neighbours, Southend, takes second place with 16,379 people per 100,000 on the waiting list. There is very little difference between Southend and Castle Point and Rochdale, with the former having slightly more people on the waiting list.

3

Birmingham and Solihul

15,140

On the waiting list per 100,000

We go to the West Midlands to complete our top three, with 15,000 people on NHS Birmingham and Solihull’s waiting list per 100,000. Birmingham is one of the most populated areas in the UK, and the total number of people on the waiting list reflects that with just over 200,000 people waiting to be treated, the third-highest total on the list.

Second map
Key: Waiting list Waiting list per 100,000 people

Clinical commissioning group

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Areas with the most same-day appointments

Birmingham and Solihull offer same-day appointments 46% of the time, more than any UK area.

Regular check-ups are really important in spotting any potential health risks. Getting diagnosed early can increase your chances of survival, and reduce treatment time. That’s why we’ve looked at the most common areas in the UK to get seen on the same day of booking your appointment.

1

Birmingham and Solihull ICB

46.11%

of same-day appointments

In first place is NHS Birmingham and Solihull which saw 46.11% of people on the same day their appointment was booked. 760,000 appointments were booked in the 185 GPs that this ICB has to offer, with 560,000 of these appointments taking place within a week.

2

North Central London ICB

45.01%

of same-day appointments

NHS North Central London takes second place, with 45% of appointments taking place on the same day they were booked. In the capital, just under 700,000 appointments were booked, with 313,000 of them taking place on the same day.

3

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB

44.78%

of same-day appointments

Completing our top three is NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough with almost a 45% total of same-day appointments. This ICB doesn’t have as many GPs, with just 89. However, together they took 538,000 appointments, seeing 241,000 of them on the same day.

Third map
Key: Appointments seen on the same day

Name

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Areas with the most same day appointments graph

The areas waiting four weeks for a doctors appointment

8% of people have to wait four weeks for a doctor's appointment in North East London, the highest in the UK.

Sometimes, getting an appointment booked with your GP can be difficult. That’s why we’ve calculated the percentage of appointments which took place at least 28 days after the booking, to find out the areas in the UK where this happens the most.

1

NHS North East London Integrated Care Board

8.14%

% of appointments with a wait time over 28 days

North East London IBC takes the top spot with just over 8% of appointments taking place more than 28 days after booking. North East London’s total of 8% is almost more than double the percentage of every ICB on our list. North East London’s 273 GPs took over one million bookings in October, with just under 23,000 of them taking place more than 28 days after the appointment was booked.

2

NHS North Central London Integrated Care Board

4.44%

% of appointments with a wait time over 28 days

Taking second place once again is North Central London IBC with 4.44% of appointments taking place at least 28 days after being booked. Despite North Central London excelling in offering same-day appointments, they had over 11,000 people waiting more than 28 days to be seen.

3

NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board

4.39%

% of appointments with a wait time over 28 days

Completing our top three is NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria IBC with 4.39% of appointments taking place more than 28 days after they were booked. Lancashire and South Cumbria, who are just 0.05% behind second place, have 201 GPs, where 928,000 appointments were booked, 60,000 of which were at least 28 days after the booking.

Fourth map
Key: % Of appointments with a wait time of longer than 28 days

Name

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Areas waiting for a doctors appointment chart

Methodology

We looked at NHS data to determine the number of A&E visits per UK hospital. We then took the number of people in each catchment area from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities to calculate the number of visits per 100,000.

We got the number of people on the waiting list per 100,000 from the Waiting List Tracker. Figures are from November 2022.

For the percentage of same-day appointments and appointments which happened 28 days after booking, we used October 2022’s figures from the NHS

Figures are accurate from 08.02.2023

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