article_snippet: A fifth of patients turning up in A&E have minor ailments including sore throats, athlete's foot and headlice, according to an analysis.
article_snippet: In the worst cases, doctors have reported patients showing up because doctors were hungover, doctors false nails were hurting or doctors had paint in doctors hair.
article_snippet: A fifth of patients turning up in A&E have minor ailments including sore throats, athlete's foot and headlice, a study has found (file picture)
article_snippet: Many go to A&E in the knowledge that they will at least be seen by a doctor that day, even if they have to wait four hours.
article_snippet: An analysis of data from 15 A&E units by the consultancy firm IMS Health found that 19 per cent of admissions were for what are known as self-treatable conditions.
article_snippet: These include coughs, colds, muscle sprains, athlete's foot, headlice or babies with colic.
article_snippet: The data covers one in 10 of the A&E units across England so, if the trends are the same, an estimated 4.1million of the 21.7million visits last year were for minor ailments.
article_snippet: Dr Mann, an A&E consultant at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, Dorset, added that the ‘A&E brand is well-known and trusted’
article_snippet: patients will continue to attend’.
article_snippet: Figures show that 21.7million patients attended A&E in 2013/14, a rise of more than a third in a decade.
article_snippet: If parents have an unwell child who needs medical attention A&E provides a trusted service.
highlights_snippet: A fifth of A&E patients have self-treatable conditions such as athlete's foot .
  
highlights_snippet: Doctors have even had patients turn up at A&E because Doctors are hungover .
  