Royal Bolton Hospital features on Good Morning Britain amid ‘busiest day on record’

And the show also reported last Monday was the hospital’s emergency department’s “busiest day on record” with 499 patients being attended to.

The public, clinicians and experts have been urged to submit ideas for the NHS’s future as a new online platform goes live today.

Billed as “the biggest national conversation about the future of the NHS since its birth”, people will be able to share their views online until the start of next year.

The consultation is part of the government’s plans to transform the NHS into a “neighbourhood health service”, shifting more care from hospitals to communities.

(Image: Social media)

Reporting from the Royal Bolton’s “same day emergency care unit” on Monday, news presenter Katy Rickett said: “Last Monday, 499 patients came through the door of Bolton’s ER, making it the busiest day on record.

READ MORE: Farnworth: Woman arrested after ‘reports of indecent and lewd acts’

Bolton Deaf Society has become a hate crime reporting centre

Bolton Council votes to triple ‘bad debt’ it can write-off

“Staff set up this ‘same day emergency care unit’ to take some minor injuries away from the ER and give patients the treatment they need without causing a huge rush.

“This is the sort of thing that patients will be able to say whether it works or doesn’t work and whether it could be rolled out.”

The plan, expected to be published in spring next year, will also see greater use of data and technology, with easier sharing of patient data, saving an estimated 140,000 hours of staff time every year, PA media reports.

(Image: Social media)

Announcing the consultation, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “My mum worked for the NHS, my sister worked for the NHS, and my wife still works for the NHS – so I know first-hand how difficult it has been for staff, and for patients battling against a broken system for over a decade.

“But it’s time to roll up our sleeves and fix it.

“We have a clear plan to fix the health service, but it’s only right that we hear from the people who rely on the NHS every day to have their say and shape our plan as we deliver it.

“Together we can build a healthcare system that puts patients first and delivers the care that everyone deserves.

“We have a huge opportunity to put the NHS back on its feet.

“So, let’s be the generation that took the NHS from the worst crisis in its history and made it fit for the future.”

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “When I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, the NHS saved my life, as it has for so many people across our country.

“We all owe the NHS a debt of gratitude for a moment in our lives when it was there for us, when we needed it. Now we have a chance to repay that debt.

(Image: PA Media)

“Today the NHS is going through the worst crisis in its history. But while the NHS is broken, it’s not beaten. Together, we can fix it.

“Whether you use the NHS or work in it, you see first-hand what’s great, but also what isn’t working. We need your ideas to help turn the NHS around.

“In order to save the things, we love about the NHS, we need to change it.

“Our 10 Year Health Plan will transform the NHS to make it fit for the future, and it will have patients’ and staff’s fingerprints all over it.

“I urge everyone to go to Change.NHS.uk today and help us build a health service fit for the future.”

Government reforms will also shift the NHS away from late diagnosis and treatment to a model where more services are delivered in local communities and illnesses are prevented in the first place.

The start of this national conversation on the future of the NHS follows on from Lord Darzi’s independent report into the health service that diagnosed its condition.

Lord Darzi concluded the NHS is in a “critical condition” with surging waiting lists and a deterioration in the nation’s underlying health, identifying serious and widespread problems for people accessing services.