A&Es told to turn away non-urgent patients in drive to stop overcrowding and long waits

By SHAUN WOOLLER, EXECUTIVE HEALTH EDITOR Published: 17:12, 10 June 2026 | Updated: 17:12, 10 June 2026 Patients attending A&E with non-critical issues will be turned away or given an appointment and told to come back later under plans to slash long waits. Hospitals have been urged to adopt a ‘high-tech concierge service’, which will allow staff to prioritise people with the most pressing needs. It will see patients directed to a kiosk or given an iPad-style tablet to fill in a questionnaire about their symptoms. Those deemed to have an urgent issue will be waved through to the waiting room for quick care, while those with less pressing conditions will be given an appointment later in the day. Meanwhile, patients with minor ailments will be told to go elsewhere, such as a local pharmacy or their GP. Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, wants trusts to adopt the new process in order to speed up treatment this winter, when pressures are usually greatest. Only three in four patients (76.9 per cent) were treated, admitted or discharged within four hours in A&Es in April, the latest figures show. The triage system has been developed by NHS England and is free for hospitals to use. It has already been adopted across 18 hospitals. Hospitals have been urged to adopt a ‘high-tech concierge service’, which will allow staff to prioritise people with the most pressing needs. Sir Jim said ‘the big prize for this coming winter is shifting to introducing many more appointments into urgent care’, with booked appointments and digital triaging in A&E departments expected to have an ‘enormous’ impact on staff and patients. The triage tool has been trialled at East Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, where it has halved A&E waiting times from nearly three hours (178 minutes) to just an hour and a half (94 minutes). The new approach is designed to end the uncertainty of not knowing how long individual patients could be expected to wait and ensuring emergency doctors can focus on those who need urgent treatment the most. It comes after a report by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine last week revealed the number of deaths linked to long waits in A&Es across England has surged almost tenfold over the past decade. It estimated there were 15,860 excess deaths associated with long waiting times in 2025 - up from 1,657 in 2015. This is now the equivalent to 305 lives lost every week. The report examines the scale of overcrowding in emergency departments and the impact this is having on patient safety and staff. Further analysis reveals nearly half a million people (489,138) waited 24 hours or more in EDs across England. This has increased by around 150,000 patients in just three years. Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: ‘Patient experience must be the outcome we're measuring, not just waiting times and attendance figures. Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, wants trusts to adopt the new process in order to speed up treatment this winter, when pressures are usually greatest. ‘As digital triage rolls out more widely, it must work for all patients, not just the digitally confident. ‘Older patients, those with disabilities, and people with limited digital access must never be disadvantaged because they couldn't use a kiosk or a tablet. ‘And any patient who is redirected or given a later appointment slot needs explicit, easy-to-understand information about what to do if their condition deteriorates, who to call, where to go, and how quickly to act. ‘Without that safety-netting, vulnerable patients risk falling through the cracks. ‘The ambition is right but patients and their experience must be at the centre of how these reforms are designed and delivered, not just the beneficiaries of them.’ Dr Ian Higginson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: ‘The number of deaths linked to long stays in our Emergency Departments explicitly show the system is failing the patients it is meant to be caring for. It’s shocking.’ Professor Nicola Ranger, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: ‘This is the tragic reality when people are left to wait in overcrowded and under-resourced A&Es. ‘This catastrophe has been unfolding unchecked in our hospitals for far too long, with patients routinely being left waiting for hours, and in some cases days, in often unsuitable and degrading conditions. ‘To bring this to an end, we need system-wide, long-term, sustainable solutions.’ No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.