12-hour winter A&E waits ‘becoming normalised’

Newly-released figures show that the number of patients waiting for longer than 12 hours for a bed on a ward after being seen in A&E in England was 19 times higher this winter than it was before the pandemic, with nearly 100,000 12-hour waits in December and January compared to just over 5,000 in 2019-20.

The King’s Fund said long delays were at risk of becoming normalised, adding that the pressures this winter had received little attention compared to last winter, despite no significant improvement in performance.

During December 2023 and January 2024, 98,300 patients waited for longer than 12 hours for a bed on a ward after they had been admitted via A&E.

Dr Ian Higginson, vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said measures put in place by NHS England and the government, which included opening 5,000 additional hospital beds and creating 10,000 virtual beds whereby patients with heart and respiratory conditions receive extra care in the community to keep them out of hospital, had failed to have much of an impact.

He said hospitals were over-crowded and just as unsafe, if not more unsafe, as last year, adding “The plans have made little real difference to the experience of patients.”

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England’s medical director, said the NHS had been under significant pressure, describing it as “one of the busiest winters ever” – and that was continuing into February.  He pointed out the number of patients in hospital with flu was particularly high, but said the “robust measures” put in place had helped.

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (jacquelinevance@chadlaw.co.uk), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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