Over 250 patients die needlessly every week due to A&E waits, research finds

31 March 2024 , 23:01

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Alarming figures suggest over 250 people died needlessly last year due to long A&E waits (file image) (Image: Getty Images)

More than 250 patients may have died needlessly every week in England last year due to "excessively long" A&E waits, new research suggests.

Unions say the damning calculations reveal hospitals are "fatally unsafe" due to shortages of staff and beds. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) estimates there were an average of 268 preventable deaths a week in 2023 after tens of thousands faced waits of over eight hours.

Prof Pat Cullen, who heads the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said: “This crisis is taking lives and nursing staff in England’s hospitals are forced to witness it every shift. Go into any hospital, the corridors and cupboards are packed with patients – care is not only undignified but fatally unsafe. One nurse told me a lady had died on a trolley in a corridor and it went unnoticed far too long – that is the current state of our health service.

"Too few staff and not enough beds to admit patients to safely is driving dangerously long waiting times and care in totally inappropriate locations. Nursing staff strain every sinew to hold it together with their colleagues but they now feel set up to fail."

The RCEM estimates there is one excess death for every 72 patients kept waiting between eight and 12 hours. NHS data shows more than 1.5 million patients waited 12 hours or more in major emergency departments in 2023.

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In February this year 44,417 people waited more than 12 hours to be admitted in A&E departments after a decision to admit them.

Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the RCEM, said: "Excessively long waits continue to put patients at risk of serious harm. Small improvements in four-hour access standard performance are not meaningful when there are so many people staying more than 12 hours.

"Effort and money should go where the harm is greatest." He went on: "The direct correlation between delays and mortality rates is clear. Patients are being subjected to avoidable harm.

"Urgent intervention is needed to put people first. Patients and staff should not bear the consequences of insufficient funding and under-resourcing. We cannot continue to face inequalities in care, avoidable delays and death."

Dave Burke