Record 500,000 patients spend 24 hours in A&E

Telegraph

a day ago

A record number of almost half a million patients spent 24 hours in A&E last year, statistics show.
Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), said the figures were 'a source of national shame', fuelling thousands of deaths.
He raised concerns that the Government's 10-year health plan, to be published next week, would not take sufficient action to tackle A&E overcrowding – and could even make it worse.
NHS data, disclosed under freedom of information laws, show long trolley waits have surged, leaving casualty units increasingly crowded and dangerous.
The statistics show that in 2024 there were 478,901 waits of 24 hours or more in major A&E units in England – a rise of 27 per cent on the previous year.
The extra 100,482 cases bring the total to the highest yearly figure on record.
Meanwhile, quarterly figures for England show bed occupancy is also at a record high, with 92.5 per cent of general and acute beds occupied.
Analysis by the RCEM found that there were more than 16,600 deaths associated with long A&E waits before admission in England last year – an increase of 20 per cent in one year.
Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, has said the 10-year health plan will mean major shifts, including moving more care from hospitals to the community and from dealing with sickness to prevention
But Dr Boyle said he was concerned that the proposals would lack 'meaningful action' to tackle the existing crisis in A&E.
In an interview with The Telegraph, the senior doctor said: 'I think there is magical thinking about reducing demand in emergency departments.'
'One of the big missions is to have a shift from sickness to prevention, and that's a perfectly sensible idea – everyone would agree with it.
'But people are still going to get sick, and need emergency care. I'm not hearing anything about meaningful action to tackle long stays in A&E.'
Dr Boyle expressed concern that attempts to shift care out of hospitals and into the community will be too risky, if bed numbers are cut before a reduction in demand is seen.
He said senior figures in emergency medicine were increasingly uneasy about a lack of focus on tackling long waits in A&E, with hospital bed occupancy at an all-time high.
'We are hearing nothing about increasing capacity – which would mean fixing social care or increasing the number of hospital beds,' he said.
'In fact it seems the aspiration is fewer beds, and as bed numbers fall, waits of 12 hours and more are rising.'
The senior medic said too many patients, especially the old and frail, were being condemned to long A&E stays 'in a system which is making them sicker'.
The figures on 24-hour trolley waits 'should be a source of national shame', he said.
Dr Boyle said the NHS focus on four-hour targets meant that cases which could not be resolved quickly, especially those in need of admission, too often ended up facing dangerously long waits.
He said: 'This is the result of the wrong policy, which is an exclusive focus on the four-hour standard, neglecting those patients who need admission.
'We know that this is harmful. We know that last year, there were at least 16,000 excess deaths associated with long stays in English departments.
'The majority of these people are elderly. They come to us when they're sick, and actually we're in a system which is making them sicker. People are dying as a consequence of this.'
Previous analysis of NHS data has found that patients in their 90s suffer the longest delays in A&E, with length of stay rising by age.
'Very unambitious'
Dr Boyle said the RCEM was keen to see more focus on preventive healthcare, and efforts to keep people out of hospital.
He feared, however, that Labour's plan would set out aspirations rather than set out a meaningful route to making it happen.
Earlier this month the Government and NHS England published an Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for England that vowed to make progress on eliminating 'corridor care'.
The plan said waits of 12 hours or more should occur 'less than 10 per cent of the time'.
Current performance is already close to this level, May data shows.
Dr Boyle said the target was 'very unambitious'.
'What they're saying is we're happy to tolerate corridor care for another year,' he said.