a fifth of patients turning up in a&e have minor ailments including sore throats, athlete's foot and headlice, according to an analysis it calculates that more than four million visits a year are unnecessary and cost the nhs £290million annually in the worst cases, doctors have reported patients showing up because they were hungover, their false nails were hurting or they had paint in their hair the problem is largely caused by the fact that patients are finding it increasingly difficult to see their gp, particularly out of hours 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) 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 even health secretary jeremy hunt has admitted taking his children to casualty at the weekend rather than making an appointment with a gp but the unnecessary visits are adding to the pressures of busy departments and diverting staff from treating patients who are very seriously ill it all came to a head in january when 13 hospitals declared major internal incidents in a two day period as they were unable to cope with the numbers coming through the door 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 these include coughs, colds, muscle sprains, athlete's foot, headlice or babies with colic the data covers one in 10 of the a&e units across england so, if the trends are the same, an estimated 41million of the 217million visits last year were for minor ailments health secretary jeremy hunt has admitted taking his children to casualty at the weekend rather than making an appointment with a gp  experts are urging patients to keep their medicine cabinets well stocked and to make better use of their pharmacists, where they can be seen and offered advice and treatment matthew speers, chief executive of the proprietary association of great britain , which represents the manufacturers of over the counter medicines and commissioned the research said: ‘it is vital that the nhs raises awareness of the range of different services available to people and when to access them appropriately ‘pharmacists are well placed to provide advice to people with minor conditions, who don’t need to visit the gp or a&e, thereby ensuring they receive the support they need, without diverting nhs resources from people who really need them’ he added that the nhs was facing a ‘crisis’ because staffing levels and finances were unable to cope with the needs of the steadily rising and aging population ‘this cannot continue and that’s why we are calling for immediate action’ but dr cliff mann, president of the college of emergency medicine, which represents a&e doctors, said attempts to divert patients did not work dr mann, an a&e consultant at musgrove park hospital in taunton, dorset, added that the ‘a&e brand is well known and trusted’ so ‘patients will continue to attend’ he said the only solution was to install gp clinics at a&e units so patients with minor ailments could be sent there, leaving staff to deal with the more serious cases figures show that 217million patients attended a&e in 2013/14, a rise of more than a third in a decade and the nhs has missed its target for ensuring 95 per cent of patients are dealt with within four hours every week for the last six months in november, jeremy hunt admitted in the commons he had taken his own children to a&e ‘precisely because i didn’t want to wait until later on to take them to a gp’ ‘if parents have an unwell child who needs medical attention a&e provides a trusted service’
a&e 290million gp
a fifth of a&e patients have self treatable conditions such as athlete's foot  more than four million visits a year are unnecessary and cost £290million  doctors have even had patients turn up at a&e because they are hungover  problem is largely caused by difficulty in getting an appointment with a gp 