a survey by the royal college of emergency medicine found that of more than 1,100 a&e doctors who respondedgo on as they have been, or that they're getting worse. fewer than 50 felt things are getting better. five years ago, i met consultant taj hassan. he told me then of a crisis in emergency departments. now he represents a&e doctors across the uk, and it seems that little has changed. we are entering winter in probably the worst state of performance in emergency departments, probably for the last 20 years. we are struggling badly. the nhs has been promised extra money, but that won't arrive until next year, and it's finding and keeping staff willing to work in the most demanding parts of the health service that's proving to be a challenge. it's particularly difficult coming into winter, and that's made worse by brexit. we need to see some short—term action, in order to overcome these challenges. nhs england says more emergency consultants are now working in the health service, and that extensive plans for winter are in place. the coming months could see those plans tested to the limit. d

a survey by the royal college of emergency medicine found that of more than 1,100 a&e doctors who responded on as they have been, or that they're getting worse. fewer than 50 felt things are getting better. five years ago, i met consultant taj hassan. he told me then of a crisis in emergency departments. now he represents a&e doctors across the uk, and it seems that little has changed. we are entering winter in probably the worst state of performance in emergency departments, probably for the last 20 years. we are struggling badly. the nhs has been promised extra money, but that won't arrive until next year, and it's finding and keeping staff willing to work in the most demanding parts of the health service that's proving to be a challenge. it's particularly difficult coming into winter, and that's made worse by brexit. we need to see some short—term action, in order to overcome these challenges. nhs england says more emergency consultants are now working in the health service, and that extensive plans for winter are in place. the coming months could see those plans tested to the limit. dom

emergency departments are in poor shape ahead of what could be a tough winter. there‘s a stark warning today that accident and emergency the royal college of emergency medicine, thestrict hospital. this is one of a relatively small number of nhs trusts generally meeting the four—hour a&e target, but even here, they‘ve seen performance slip as winter approaches, and the pressure is already building. we‘re not at a stage here where it feels hopeless, but it‘d be a complete lie to say there aren‘t days where you think, crikey, how on earth are we are going to get through this? we had a record number for us of people needing admission through the day. so monday was a very challenging day, meaning the team here in the emergency department and the wider hospital had to work really hard. for months, a&e departments across the country have been planning for winter, but there are still real concerns about just how resilient the system actually is. for the past year, accident and emergency departments right across the uk have been under intense pressure. one of the toughest winters in memory was followed by a summer that saw precious little relief. and as we head into this