A&E is not some clinic for people with a headache

THE latest NHS figures should make every sane person in this country wince.

- 

Over the past five years, A&E departments have been steadily clogged up by people turning up with complaints that would once have earned you a stern look, a cup of tea and a lie down.

We are talking hiccups, coughs, headaches, backaches and vague abdominal pains - the kind of ailments generations before us simply got on with.

Let's be clear. A&E is for accidents and emergencies. Heart attacks. Strokes. Serious injuries. Life or death moments.

It is not a walk-in reassurance clinic for people who have lost the ability to cope with some form of mild discomfort.