The horrifying reality of Britain’s emergency care crisis

The Independent's Morning Headlines email [View online]( January 13, 2023 [Morning Headlines]( 1 / [‘Mayhem’ in A&E: The horrifying reality of Britain’s emergency care crisis]( Overwhelmed hospitals are putting A&E patients alongside women on maternity wards and cancelling hundreds of cancer operations in a bid to deal with the worst ever crisis in emergency care. An investigation by The Independent has revealed an alarming escalation of the NHS crisis in all areas of the health service as new figures released on Thursday showed 54,532 patients waited 12 hours for an A&E admission in December, a monthly rise of 44.1 per cent. As ambulance waits reached an average of 90 minutes for strokes and heart attacks, one patient described a Cardiff A&E as “mayhem” with no free spaces, people lying on the floor with oxygen tanks and queuing in hallways.   2 / [Rishi Sunak must defy Tory ‘Brexit purity cult’ to get protocol deal, says Starmer]( Labour leader offers ‘political cover’ – as he urges PM to stand up to MPs in European Research Group 3 /[UK economy grew by 0.1 per cent in November]( The increase comes despite forecasts of a UK recession in 2023 4 / [Austin Butler’s Golden Globes tribute to Lisa Marie Presley goes viral]( This followed the news of the death of 54-year-old Lisa Marie, who was Elvis’s only daughter 5 / [Man charged with killing Elle Edwards in Christmas Eve pub shooting]( Connor Chapman, 22, set to apear at Wirral Adult Remand Court on Friday 13 January     The Big Question Why do oversharers like Prince Harry insist on telling us everything? My foreskin is too tight,” a friend once shared to the group in the pub. “And every time I try to have sex it’s just extremely awkward.” On the face of it, there is nothing funny about this – but people laughed anyway. Perhaps because it’s a curveball to hear something so vulnerable – tragicomic, even – and far beyond the humdrum register of normal pub conversation. The laughter wasn’t a dismissal; our friend was heard sympathetically. But the problem had to be treated with levity first. For some reason, it would have been far worse if nobody had acknowledged that. The memory of my friend’s problem (now happily resolved) was brought into sharp relief this week by [Prince Harry](’s disclosures in his memoir Spare, which have been described by many as “oversharing”. The most criticised passages include the revelation that he killed 25 men during his second tour in Afghanistan, descriptions of private conversations with close family members, and the declaration that he was suffering from a frostbitten “todger” at his brother’s wedding. For Harry, this seems to be a rebellion against a lifetime of silence – with a therapeutic purpose. “I know from my own healing journey that silence has been the least effective remedy,” he told US magazine People this week, justifying his decision to reveal that he had killed 25 fighters. “Expressing and detailing my experience is how I chose to deal with it, in the hopes it would help others.” [For the full story click here >](   Enjoying this newsletter? Unlock unlimited, ad-free reading on the website and in The Independent app when you subscribe – plus, benefit from our [welcome offer when you join today](. Watch/ [Why did Just Stop Oil throw paint on a Van Gogh? | You Ask The Questions](   NUMBER OF THE DAY £10,000 – UK households will be forced to spend an average of £10,000 on [energy bills]( during the lifetime of this five-year parliament, new analysis has revealed. [Read more here](   QUOTE OF THE DAY “The situation now is far worse than I’ve ever experienced. We’ve never really thought that any government would let it get as bad as it is now.” – Dr Simon Walsh, of doctors’ union the British Medical Association, said the health service was “in unprecedented territory, where harm is actually occurring week after week”. [Read more here](     Other stories you might like   [Woman in 20s dies and second in hospital after dog attack in Caterham](   [Boris Johnson staff ‘had sex at No 10 lockdown party’](   [Family’s decade awaiting organ transplants as figures show Black patients suffer donor shortage](       Articles available exclusively to subscribers Mary Dejevsky - [King Charles, Sunak and Macron – could this be the start of a new entente cordiale?](   Other newsletters you might like [The Race Report] The Race Report Fortnightly, 7am (UK time) Written by Nadine White [Sign up]( [Inside Politics] Inside Politics Weekdays, 8am (UK time) Written by Matt Mathers [Sign up](   If you can spare a minute we’d love your [feedback]( on our newsletters. [The Independent]( Join the conversation or follow us [Facebook]( [Twitter]( Please do not reply directly to this email You are currently registered to receive The Independent's Morning Headlines newsletter. Add us to your safe list of senders. 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