A Wexham Park A&E nurse has told the prime minister that he needs to fix a crisis in social care to reduce overcrowding in hospitals.

Silvia Marko was invited to meet Keir Starmer in Downing Street after a speech on how he plans to ‘fix the foundations’ of Britain last Tuesday, August 27. She told him that overcrowding is one of the biggest problems facing A&E departments across the country.

Speaking to the Observer about her meeting, Silvia said: “I talked about my job as a nurse and talked about the problems, which is overcrowding.

“When the prime minister asked us what suggestions we could give, I referred to how we can solve the overcrowding issue in A&E, which is to solve social care.”

READ MORE: NHS staff at Slough hospital could strike over privatisation fears

Ms Marko said that overcrowding happens in A&E departments when hospital wards are unable to discharge patients needing social care packages.

A BBC investigation last year found that around on an average day, around 13,300 patients fit to be discharged from hospitals in England aren’t able to leave – around 58 per cent.

The most reported reason was that they were still waiting for home care packages to be put in place – with the Royal College of Nursing blaming understaffing. Ms Marko said this can have a knock-on effect on A&Es.

She said: “We have to be able to send people to the wards, which is sometimes impossible because they can’t discharge people back to the community. That means people stay in A&E longer because there are no beds to send people to the wards.”

Ms Marko said Mr Starmer couldn’t give her a solution straight away when she told him about the problem. But she said she was happy that he had listened to her. She said: “He didn’t answer straight away and said this is something he’s going to think about.

“Social care is a big issue and I wasn’t expecting him to give us an answer straight away. He obviously wanted to listen to our suggestions and our thoughts.”

She also told him she was proud to work for the NHS, and wanted to celebrate it and the people who work for it – who she says give patients the best care they can despite the challenges.

READ MORE: Wexham Park Hospital ‘better than world-class hotel’ says patient

She said: “We’ve got very good matrons – if you raise a problem they will find a solution. It’s all about how the team adapts and that’s a good thing.”

She added that people waiting in A&E 'are not neglected' and always receive the best care. But she said it would be better for them to move to the wards after being identified for admission so that A&E does not become overcrowded.

She said: “The NHS has good and bad things – but I think there are more good things. It’s not about focussing on the negative, it’s about focussing on how we can improve things.

“I am proud to work for the NHS otherwise I wouldn’t be there. It’s impossible to work in A&E without loving your job.”