Shocking 14,000 deaths linked to A&E delays – as record number of patients wait OVER 12 hours due to NHS ‘logjam’
THOUSANDS of patients could be dying due to A&E delays - as many wait in "trolleys, cupboards and chairs" for over 12 hours at a time.
Almost 14,000 deaths were linked to long waits for hospital care in 2023, according Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), which fears that "figures for 2024 will be worse".
New figures show record numbers of people in England waited more than 12 hours in A&E before receiving care last month.
The record-breaking delays came as hospitals grappled with a tide of winter illnesses, including flu and norovirus.
Experts blamed a "logjam" of patients who hadn't been discharged despite being deemed fit enough, meaning beds can't be freed fast enough for incoming patients.
They called on the Government to address issues in social care to tackle the "catastrophic" situation - amid warnings that delayed discharges overwhelm emergency departments and strain the “already overburdened” NHS.
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NHS England figures for January show a record 61,529 people waited more than 12 hours in A&E departments to be admitted - up from 54,207 in December.
This surpasses the previous record of 54,573 patients in December 2022.
The number of people waiting at least four hours also rose to 159,582 in January, up from 154,689 in December.
RCEM president Dr Adrian Boyle said long A&E stays are undignified, uncomfortable and dangerous for patients.
“The highest ever number of patients experiencing stays of 12 hours or more before an inpatient bed can be found for them is nothing short of a catastrophe,” he added.
“In 2023, we calculated that there were almost 14,000 deaths associated with these long stays – and just last month, the ONS again evidenced the serious risk that patients are exposed to when they experience them.
"We believe that the figures for 2024 will be worse.
“These waits are often endured on trolleys in corridors or cupboards, or chairs in waiting rooms. The focus has to shift to addressing these stays.”
Figures for last week also showed that an average of 14,087 hospital beds per day were filled with patients who were fit to be discharged.
This is up from 13,776 the previous week and is the highest number so far this winter.
On average, only 41 per cent of patients ready to leave hospital last week were actually discharged each day.
Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive NHS Providers, said this winter has been the “toughest” that many trust leaders can remember.
“Wards are full of thousands of patients ready to be discharged but can’t be, often due to a lack of community NHS or social care capacity,” she added.
“Last week, one in seven beds were filled by these patients.
“This logjam has been a challenge for years, we need a long-term solution. It has a serious knock-on effect, with a record number of patients waiting to be admitted through A&E.”
The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) of England said delayed discharges hamper efforts to reduce waiting lists and creates a bottleneck that prevents new patients from being admitted for surgical procedures and operations.
Prolonged hospital stays can also up the risk of infections and other complications for patients.
When you should call NHS 111 or go to A&E
NHS 111 is the best place to get help if you cannot contact your GP or if you urgently need medical help or advice but it's not a non-life-threatening situation.
If you're not sure if you need to go to A&E, you should get hep from NHS 111.
You should visit an A&E department for genuine life-threatening emergencies, such as:
- Loss of consciousness
- Acute confused state and fits that are not stopping
- Chest pain
- Breathing difficulties
- Severe bleeding that cannot be stopped
- Severe allergic reactions
- Severe burns or scalds
- Stroke
- Major trauma such as a road traffic accident
Less severe injuries can be treated in urgent care centres or minor injuries units.
Source: NHS
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) also warned that delayed discharges are overwhelming emergency departments.
The college’s clinical vice president Dr John Dean said: “This is a systemic failure that places intolerable pressure on the NHS.
“Delayed discharges overwhelm emergency departments, force the cancellation of planned treatments and cause patients unnecessary distress and deterioration in their health.
“The impact ripples across the entire healthcare system — from paramedics waiting with patients in ambulances to doctors and nurses struggling to find space for those in urgent need.”
Professor Peter Friend, vice president of the RCS of England, warned that “pressures on hospitals at this time of year are immense”.
“They need urgent support to address delayed discharges,” he added.
“Patients are stuck in hospital beds for days on end, with staff wading through the quicksand of a disjointed and underfunded system, that only adds more strain to our already overburdened healthcare services.”
Waiting list falls
Meanwhile, waiting lists for routine hospital treatment in England fell for the fourth consecutive month and the number of people waiting more than a year for treatment reached its lowest point since November 2020.
An estimated 7.46 million treatments - for 6.24 million patients - were waiting to be carried out at the end of December in England, down from 7.48 million treatments and 6.28 million patients at the end of November.
The number of people waiting more than 52 weeks to start routine treatment stood at 200,375 at the end of December, down from 221,889 at the end of November and the lowest number since November 2020.
This is the equivalent of 2.7 per cent of patients on the waiting list, with the Government and NHS England aiming to get the figure to less than 1 per cent by March 2026.
Meanwhile, there were 2,059 patients waiting more than 18 months to start routine treatment at the end of December, up very slightly from 2,051 in November, while the number of patients waiting more than 65 weeks dropped to 15,568 from 16,904.
Professor Julian Redhead, NHS England’s national clinical director for urgent and emergency care, said the figures show “how innovations and the hard work of staff are now delivering consistent progress in bringing down the backlog”.
“This post-pandemic period is potentially the hardest the NHS has ever managed and that has certainly been true this winter with soaring levels of viruses, high bed occupancy and difficulties discharging patients – with last week seeing 14,000 beds taken up each day by patients who were medically fit for discharge,” he added.
“Despite that storm of pressure in January, A&E and ambulance waiting times were improved on both the month and year before, and this year we will continue work to improve patient flow across hospitals throughout the year, to ensure that we’re in a better position for next winter.”
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Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “As we work to end the misery of people left stranded on NHS waiting lists, we will also continue to address the issues facing our A&E departments.
“Annual winter pressures should not automatically lead to an annual winter crisis and we will soon publish our plan to improve urgent and emergency care services, so the NHS can be there for everyone when they need it, once again.”