Paramedics were forced to take patients to other hospitals on 58 occasions during the Christmas fortnigh.
Crisis: Record number of ambulances turned away from A&E
The NHS crisis has worsened with a record number of ambulances turned away by full A&E units.
Paramedics were forced to take patients to other hospitals on 58 occasions during the Christmas fortnight after A&E departments closed their doors. The figure for the same period in 2013 was 31.
The “A&E diverts” happened at 21 NHS trusts in England. It is not known how far the patients had to travel.
Labour condemned the trend as more “alarming” evidence of the problems in the NHS.
Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham said: “These figures show the A&E crisis is more serious than the Government has acknowledged.
“To have hospitals all over the country unable to accept patients is alarming. It suggests that ministers are gambling with patient safety.
“David Cameron has failed to get a grip on a crisis he created in England’s A&E.”
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust recorded 14 diverts – worse than any other trust.
Trusts that had to send patients elsewhere on several occasions last month include County Durham and Darlington, Hillingdon Hospitals, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals, Northumbria Healthcare and King’s College Hospital, London.
Last week it emerged that hundreds of patients had to wait on trolleys for more than 12 hours over the New Year because of a shortage of beds.
Hospital A&Es managed to treat just 79.8 per cent of patients within the four-hour target.
NHS England’s director of operations Dr Sarah Pinto-Duschinsky said the NHS faced “unprecedented pressures”.
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