Senior A&E doctors are warning that hospitals are teetering on the edge of safety. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine says that after a quieter start to the year, the pressure has intensified this month.

However, in the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, waiting times in A&E have fallen under a new initiative, which places a senior nurse near the front doors to turn away non-emergency patients.

No-one is sent home under the policy, but simply redirected to GP clinics and pharmacies.