Overview
- Official figures for 2020/21 to 2024/25 record almost 1.9 million A&E attendances for headache, about 1.4 million for cough, 1.2 million for sore throat and 1 million for earache.
- A&E attendances for cough rose from roughly 44,000 in 2020/21 to 435,728 in 2024/25, a near tenfold increase year on year.
- Doctors recorded no abnormality detected in about 2.2 million attendances in 2024/25, and more than half a million patients left before a first diagnosis.
- Serious emergencies showed little change over the period, with cardiac arrest cases near 10,700 in 2024/25 and broken hip diagnoses around 43,300.
- NHS England is urging use of alternatives such as NHS 111, pharmacies and walk-in services, while ministers highlight the deployment of 500 new ambulances and leaders call for faster expansion of community and GP care.