Huge rise in number of people going to A&E for coughs, hiccups and insomnia

In the letter, shared exclusively with The Yorkshire Post, he explained: “Vital reform of the NHS cannot work without a strong social care sector to work side by side with it in providing the care people need, when and where they need it.”

Mr Padgham, who also runs Saint Cecilia’s Care Group in Scarborough, also sent Sir Keir Starmer a Christmas present of a King’s Fund book on social care.

He believes that alleviating bed blocking and other social care pressures on hospitals will help the Government with its target to drive down near record waiting lists.

At the same time, new data has highlighted the increasing pressure on emergency departments, with the NHS braced for a challenging winter as infections in communities rise and temperatures plummet.

Figures for England show more people going to A&E with complaints such as hiccups, insomnia and backache.

More than a quarter of a million attendances in 2023-24 were due to earache – a 10 per cent rise on the previous year.

There was a 13 per cent increase in the number of A&E attendances for people seeking help for backache, up from 324,443 in 2022-23.

Cases where headache was the chief complaint rose 12 per cent between 2022-23 and 2023-24 – to 423,297.

The data further revealed that complaints for cough rose 15 per cent, from 322,500 A&E attendances in 2022-23 to 369,264 in 2023-24.

“There is a big disconnect,” Mr Padgham said. “Even though the Secretary of State mentions transferring resources from hospital to community, what happened recently in the Budget is all of the resources get aimed at the NHS.

“It’s hospital based as opposed to care in the community.

“Even though the discussion is all about that, the money doesn’t seem to follow - the NHS is the place where the money has to go to.

“That’s why we need the National Care Service, so the money is all in one place.”

He added: “I’ve heard governments of all colours say we must do more on prevention, and then they never actually do anything.

“My message to Keir Starmer is if you want to be different then actually do it this time, be bold.”

Speaking about the A&E figures, Dr Adrian Boyle, president of The Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “The various diagnoses should be taken with a grain of salt, for instance, nosebleeds can be dangerous in older people or people taking blood-thinning drugs.

“However, the fact remains that people are coming to A&E with issues that we would have not traditionally considered as requiring emergency care.

“This is symptomatic of issues that permeate the entire healthcare system. Just like our emergency departments, which are routinely overcrowded – primary and community-based services are massively overstretched.

“It is therefore no surprise that people turn to A&E for treatment of more minor issues.”

“This is a vicious cycle which means there is less capacity to treat the people who are most in need of urgent care,” he added.

“To stop this cycle, the government must deliver on its promise to fix the healthcare system, and it is imperative that this is felt in every part of the system, in every part of the country.”

In October, Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, launched “the biggest national conversation about the future of the NHS since its birth”.

He said a focus of this is how to move care from hospitals into the community.

Labour has also said it will reveal its plans for adult social care in the next 12 months.

So far, there has been scant detail of how its manifesto pledge of a National Care Service will work in practice.