// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Emergency doctor 'completely terrified' of looming winter pressures on NHS
Dr Fiona Hunter called for an end to overcrowding in A&E departments
A leading emergency doctor has said she is "completely terrified" about upcoming winter pressures on Scotland's already-stretched NHS.
Dr Fiona Hunter, vice chair of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland, said A&E departments were providing "unsafe" levels of care, with some patients spending 72 hours on trolleys in hospital corridors.
Although Health Secretary Angela Constance vowed in August to "eradicate" corridor care, Hunter told BBC Scotland's The Sunday Show there had been a "toxic normalisation" of this practice which can lead to patients dying.
Constance told the programme that the winter would be "difficult" but reiterated that corridor care was unacceptable.
She said her priorities were to reduce avoidable hospital admissions, including with "robust" public messaging, to ensure people were accessing the right sort of medical care.
She said she wanted to remedy a lack of statistics kept around corridor care and to move towards a system where preparing for winter was a "year round" activity.
BBC Scotland has asked the Scottish government for a response to Hunter's comments, which were broadcast after the health secretary's interview.
The Health and Care Improving Flow Plan asks health boards to reduce corridor care
Last month First Minister John Swinney confirmed plans to cut the number of mainland health boards from 11 to two in a bid to free up more time and capacity for treatment.