Millions are clogging up A&Es across the country with minor ailments including blocked noses and hiccups due to the GP appointment crisis, experts have warned. 

New figures reveal that A&E medics dealt with almost 1.9 million cases of people seeking help for a headache over the past five years alone.

A further 1.4 million A&E attendances in England in the same period were due to a cough and 1.2 million were for a sore throat.

Health service bosses warned that the persistent strain on primary care services — with patients routinely facing waits of more than a week to be seen — is forcing many to attend emergency units. 

Instead, patients with minor ailments should be managed through appropriate services, such as pharmacies and NHS 111 online, they urged.  

According to the analysis of NHS data by the PA news agency, one million A&E attendances were due to earache from 2020 to 2025.

There were almost 69,000 A&E attendances for a blocked nose, 4,200 for hiccups and 290,000 where the chief complaint was constipation.

Some 44,000 cases of 'cough' were dealt with in 2020/21 and the number has risen every year to reach 435,728 in 2024/25 – a near tenfold-increase.

Fresh analysis of NHS data shows cases where sore throat was the chief complaint rose 77 per cent between 2021/22 and 2022/23, from 191,900 cases to 340,441. Health service bosses today said that the 'persistent strain on primary care services including GPs' — with patients routinely being told they face a wait of more than a week to be seen — is leaving many patients resorting to attending emergency units 

There were 59,120 A&E attendances where the chief complaint was diarrhoea in 2020/21, rising each year to reach 143,591 by 2024/25.

A&E attendances also rose from 40,962 to 70,933 for constipation, 211,266 to 396,724 for backache, 9,795 to 20,516 for nausea, and 587 to 1,093 for hiccups.

PA analysis shows that medics noted that 'no abnormality was detected' for 2.2 million A&E attendances in 2024/25, while more than half a million patients walked out before a first diagnosis was made.

It warning comes as medics warn of a 'tidal wave' of winter illnesses sweeping the health service. 

NHS England said a significant number of patients sought help last winter for a variety of illness which could have been handled by GPs or pharmacists. 

Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said: 'Patients choosing to attend A&E for help with relatively simple conditions like earache lays bare a failure to give people enough access to convenient, responsive services closer to home where they can get the help they need there and then.