More than 150,000 patients had to wait more than 24 hours in emergency departments before being given a hospital bed last year, according to new data.
Freedom of Information data collected by the Liberal Democrats from 73 hospitals – around half of the total – shows the number of patients having to wait more than 24 hours in A&E before a bed can be found for them , has increased tenfold since 2019. The majority of those who had to wait were elderly or frail, with two-thirds of patients aged over 65.
“It is devastating that so many elderly and vulnerable people are being forced to endure this terrifying wait as our health service teeters on the edge,” Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, told the Times, which first reported the findings. “Behind each of these figures is a story of someone waiting in pain, worrying about getting the care they need.”
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine estimates that almost 14,000 people died in England last year while waiting up to 12 hours in A&E – 268 people a week by 2023.
Analysis of official data from the Lib Dems earlier this year showed that more than 1.5 million patients had to wait 12 hours or more in A&E last year, with some hospitals reporting that one in four patients experienced such delays. In February, 44,417 patients waited more than 12 hours in the emergency department.
“Last year, NHS staff faced significant demand – 393,000 more emergency admissions and 217,000 more emergency admissions compared to 2022 – on top of unprecedented industrial action, high bed occupancy and the usual pressures caused by seasonal illnesses including Covid and flu,” an NHS spokesperson said.
Despite the demand, she insisted “significant progress for patients” had been made, such as increasing the capacity of additional beds and ambulances.
The hospitals where the most patients waited more than a day in A&E were those in East Kent, with 14,400 patients, up from 1,300 in 2019. But 10 of 73 hospital trusts had fewer than 100 patients waiting 24 hours. Some, including Northumbria Healthcare, reported none at all.
Long emergency room wait times have been associated with serious patient harm. Data shows that once people wait more than six hours and need to be admitted to hospital, their risk of dying begins to increase, the RCEM said.
“The direct correlation between delays and mortality rates is clear,” Dr Adrian Boyle, the president of the RCEM, told the Guardian. “Patients are exposed to avoidable harm. Urgent intervention is needed to put people first. Patients and staff should not bear the consequences of insufficient financing and too few resources. We cannot continue to be confronted with inequalities in care, avoidable delays and deaths.”
In 2019, fewer than 15,000 patients had to wait 24 hours. The 153,000 patients who had to wait 24 hours last year is a 17% increase on the previous year – after a sevenfold increase between 2021 and 2022.
The NHS recovery plan set a target in March for 76% of A&E patients to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, but data for March shows the NHS has missed that target, with just 70.9% of patients were seen within that time.
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“We want to ensure that people get the emergency care they need. Emergency department four-hour performance improved in February compared to January, despite the highest number of emergency visits on record and the impact of industrial action,” a Department of Health spokesperson said.
“Our emergency care recovery plan, supported by £1 billion in 2023-2024, has added 5,000 extra hospital beds and rolled out 10,000 hospital wards to help people get treatment in the comfort of their own home.”
The Lib Dems laid the blame for the long wait squarely at the door of the government, accusing it of “neglect of the NHS and care”.
“We urgently need more hospital beds and a long-term solution to the social care crisis to end these devastating emergency department delays,” Davey said.