Nearly 400,000 patients had to wait 24 hours in emergency care due to ‘year-round emergency room crisis’

Last year, almost 400,000 patients waited more than a day to be seen in emergency departments thanks to a ‘year-round’ healthcare crisis.

The country’s top emergency doctor warned that seriously ill and elderly patients are having to endure long, stressful waits in an environment that is “worse than an airport lounge.”

NHS England data showed that 54,000 patients spent more than 48 hours in A&E and almost 19,000, the equivalent of three days – many without even a trolley to wait for.

Wait times of more than 12 hours for emergency care have increased tenfold since 2019, and 40 percent of patients wait much longer than four hours before being discharged, transferred or admitted.

The risk of death increases after waiting five days for an emergency, and increases the longer they wait.

Undercover footage from a hospital shows a patient left in a ‘Fit to Sit’ area for 30 hours, while a suspected stroke patient spent a day there due to overcrowding.

Others had to wait up to four and a half hours in ambulance queues or were ‘dumped’ in the hospital ‘Ambulance Reception’ without a proper medical transfer taking place.

A man sleeps on the floor as he waits in the emergency room at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent

Experts said the dire situation led to people dying in emergency rooms “who don’t need to die.”

The chaotic scenes were filmed for Channel 4’s Dispatches by a reporter working as a trainee healthcare assistant at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. Just last week, the hospital declared a “critical incident” after being overwhelmed by high demand.

In one clip, an elderly man is forced to urinate in a hallway trolley in full view of staff and other patients, while in another a woman is left to cry in pain for hours, according to Channel 4.

It took a nurse 20 minutes to come back with pain relief for a woman in pain, and another woman had been waiting 24 hours and the staff didn’t know she was there.

The video shows a senior nurse reading out a list of serious complaints about the ward, including: patient brings found deceased in a cubicle wearing an oxygen mask, with vomit around their mouths.

Nurses told an undercover reporter that patients were receiving “disgusting” and “unsafe” care, the documentary shows.

Experts said the dire situation led to people dying in emergency rooms ‘who don’t need to die’

The broadcaster says it exposed poor hygiene and infection control practices, a makeshift ward with no sinks and insufficient power sockets, and patients waiting in ambulance queues for up to four and a half hours.

NHS England said in response to the documentary that what was observed was ‘not common in emergency departments across the country and is not acceptable’, while the trust said it plans to fully investigate the claims.

In October last year, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected eight core services at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, finding areas of concern in relation to quality and safety, and the responsiveness of urgent and emergency care.

Lorraine Tedeschini, the CQC’s director of operations for the Midlands, said: ‘The trust’s emergency departments were overcrowded and patients faced lengthy delays.

‘We had major concerns about the supervision of patients waiting to be seen and the ability of staff to identify and act quickly when people’s health was in danger of deteriorating.

‘We have taken enforcement action to demonstrate confidence that action must be taken to address these issues and ensure people are not at risk, and we have closely monitored their progress.’

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said: ‘These findings paint a worrying picture’

Patients wait an average of 33 minutes for an ambulance in emergencies such as strokes and heart attacks, compared to the target of 18 minutes, the think tank said.

Commenting on the images and data, Dr Adrian Boyle, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: ‘The things we have seen here today are clearly not just limited to winter. It was an emergency room crisis all year long. Spending two days in the emergency department is… worse than spending two days in an airport lounge.”

A spokesperson for the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust disputed some of the claims made in Dispatches but promised to investigate them all.

Professor Julian Redhead, NHS England’s national clinical director for emergency care, said: ‘What has been observed at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust… is not common in emergency departments across the country, and is not acceptable, and we are continuing to provide the Trust with the highest level of national support to improve care.”

Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said: ‘These findings paint a disturbing picture of what the Conservatives have done to our NHS over the last fourteen years.

‘People are forced to wait entire days in fear of death, their dignity is denied and lives are avoidably lost.

‘The Conservatives are not honest about the state of the NHS, but Labor are: the NHS is broken. It can’t continue like this, but the only way to bring about change is to vote for it.’

A Conservative spokesman said: ‘Labour can snipe from the sidelines all they want, but their record in Wales speaks for itself.

‘In Labour-run Wales they have the longest NHS waiting lists on record, with one in four people waiting for treatment and patients waiting almost seven weeks longer than those in England.

‘It’s a glimpse of what Keir Starmer’s ‘blueprint’ for government looks like: they would do it in England and increase taxes on working people by £2,094 to fund it.’

Grandfather’s two-day ordeal

A grandfather with pneumonia had to spend 55 hours in a cramped consulting room while waiting for an emergency room bed.

Geoffrey Knell during his 55-hour wait at QEQM Hospital in Margate

Geoffrey Knell, 79, spent more than two ‘uncomfortable and painful’ days in a chair before being admitted to a ward at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, Kent.

The grandfather-of-seven, pictured, was admitted at 7am on March 26 with a chest infection but was not given a bed until 2.30pm on March 28.

His son Paul said he didn’t get a single hot meal while waiting. He added: ‘He can’t walk far… so mum has to be with him 90 per cent of the time. But that means she also sleeps badly, and that she is 76.’