Hospital patients dying needlessly after A&E waits of over 12 hours almost DOUBLE
HOSPITAL patients are dying needlessly after A&E waits of more than 12 hours almost doubled to a million last year.
Doctors have warned more lives will be lost as the record delays worsen.
It comes after figures revealed 992,161 waits in casualty of a half-day or more. The previous high was 522,720 in 2019. It fell to 303,000 in 2020 due to Covid.
Medics say record waits in ambulances and full hospital wards will see the “grim” figures worsen without action.
Dr Katherine Henderson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, forecast “extra deaths” because of the rising 12-hour A&E waits. She said: “This isn’t acceptable. The lack of dignity is appalling.
“Many patients have no privacy. The volume of harm is at a different level and things will deteriorate further unless capacity is safely expanded.”
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Patricia Marquis, director of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “Staff see patients waiting in cubicles and on trolleys, and being treated in corridors, every day. This isn’t good for anyone.”
The NHS said it was becoming harder to admit people to A&Es because pressures on community and social care made it hard to discharge patients.
The Department of Health said reducing pressures on emergency services was an “absolute priority”.
A spokesman said that at least 7,000 more beds would be available this winter.