I was visiting an elderly patient at home following a fall. She had broken her hip and was distressed, but refusing to go to hospital. “I would rather die at home than in that A&E corridor,” she told me. She had spent a considerable time in and out of hospital for multiple health issues over the past year. Although she couldn’t fault the care she received, her anxiety stemmed from a visit to A&E a few months back where she lay on a trolley for seven hours before being seen.

This would be distressing for anyone, let alone a vulnerable woman in her late 80s who doesn’t like to make a fuss. It was such an ordeal for her that as she lay before me on the floor, unable to get up and in severe pain, she said she would rather stay like this than let me organise safe transfer to get the help she needed.

Patients are increasingly scared of attending A&E when they are acutely unwell because of the huge wait times. As a GP who has been watching the slow collapse of our healthcare system over the past 20 years, I am worried.

I can remember when the system broadly did work, when the waiting lists were manageable and patients felt satisfied with the care they received. It wasn’t perfect of course, but patients were........

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