Millions seek A&E help for minor ailments

Millions of patients are seeking help in A&Es for minor conditions, figures show.

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Press Association analysis revealed that, in five years, A&E medics dealt with almost 1.9m cases of people seeking help for a headache. Almost 1.4m A&E attendances in England from 2020/21 to 2024/25 were due to a cough, 1.2m were for a sore throat and 1m for earache.

There were almost 69,000 A&E attendances for a blocked nose, 4,200 for hiccups and 290,000 where the chief complaint was constipation. The 2020/21 year covers the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, when many patients steered clear of hospitals.