A LEADING Derbyshire doctor has criticised the "tsunami of demand" patients put on the NHS.
Dr Peter Holden said some patients turning up to the Royal Derby Hospital's A&E department should be seen by an alternative service but others should not be dealt with by the NHS at all.
And he said people needed to remember that "GPs were not an emergency service" either – with the funding not in place to establish seven-day-a-week working to stop people using A&E instead.
Dr Holden, Matlock GP and chairman of the East Midlands board of the British Medical Association, said: "The health service was never designed to deal with every scratch or sore throat.
"But, today, people do not seem to be able to live with any uncertainty about their health for more than five minutes.
"And, very often, it's not about not being able to get an appointment with their GP or anywhere else, it's about not being able to get one at a time which is convenient for them.
"Most doctors will do everything they can for their patients – be it GPs or A&E – but the public are expecting too much from the health service now and it is not resourced or funded for that level of demand.
"And, even if it could be, people would not be prepared to pay for it."
The NHS says people should generally visit A&E or call 999 for life-threatening emergencies, such as: loss of consciousness; persistent, severe chest pain; fits which are not stopping; breathing difficulties; and severe bleeding which cannot be stopped.
If it is not an immediate emergency, patients should call their GP or the non-emergency NHS number 111.
