triage

At no point did the NHS have to impose a formal ‘national triage’, where someone was refused treatment because they could not get a hospital bed.

"I kept having issues in the pregnancy and triage took ages – they wouldn’t get back until a day later," she said.

Courts have tried to triage the shortage by assigning the court reporters they do have to the most serious cases, such as felony trials.

There are three so far – one for triage, one to hold suspected cases and one to take confirmed cases before they can be transferred to the wards.

He said clinical advisers had been added to the contact centres, to give advice and triage calls, as well as advanced paramedic practitioners to treat more patients at home.