The number of patients waiting 12 hours or more to be admitted to A&E has risen from just over 3,000 in 2019 to almost 440,000 last year, analysis of NHS figures has shown. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) said patients were being forced to wait for hours or “even days” on trolleys, increasing the risk to their lives. Analysis of NHS England figures by the Liberal Democrats showed 439,411 people waited for 12 hours or more after a decision to admit had been made in 2023/24, up from just 3,262 in 2018/19.
RCEM president Dr Adrian Boyle said: “These figures, and our own research, clearly evidence the shameful and shocking reality of poorly patients who need to be cared for on hospital wards having to wait many hour hours, even days, often on trolleys in corridors because there is not enough capacity in the system. Read Next Cancer patients sharing drugs on Instagram due to medicine shortage “There simply are not enough beds to admit people to, often because the people in those beds are medically well enough to go home but can’t because of inadequate or delayed social care support. “It is not just a matter of inconvenience or lack of dignity, which is bad enough.
The longer people’s in-patient admission is delayed, the greater the risk to their life.” Society of Acute Medicine president Dr Nick Murch said: “The Liberal Democrats’ continued focus on health and social care and, in particular, dangerous waits and overcrowding in emergency departmen.
