RCEM report shows 'staggering' A&E waiting times

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has released figures showing that in 2021 some 1,047 patients a day, on average, were waiting 12 hours or longer from their time of arrival.

The College sent Freedom of Information requests to 118 hospital trusts (with 74 responses) in England to discover how many patients had waited 12 hours or longer from their time of arrival at an emergency department.

At the responding trusts, 381,991 patients (4.3 per cent) experienced a 12-hour delay from their time of arrival in the department in 2021.

The College raised concerns over “alarming” levels of patients in emergency departments as it described current data on 12-hour waits as the “tip of the iceberg”.

Dr Adrian Boyle, vice president of the RCEM, called for the 12-hour data measured from time of arrival to be published alongside monthly NHS performance figures.

He said: “These figures are staggering and show the critical state of the urgent and emergency care system.

“They also make clear that measuring 12-hour waits from decision to admit masks the reality facing patients and staff.

“Clearly, it is misleading to measure 12-hour waits in this way, and it is detrimental to staff efforts to improve A&E waiting times.”

Wendy Preston, Royal College of Nursing's head of nursing practice, said:

“This is yet more evidence that emergency services are in disarray.

“The health and care workforce crisis is at the heart of this – there simply aren’t enough staff to provide the services needed and patient safety has never been at a greater risk, not to mention poor patient experience.”

Rory Deighton, acute lead at the NHS Confederation, said:

“These findings reveal just how strained, under-staffed and under-pressure emergency departments have been.

“While the situation has slightly improved thanks to the hard work of NHS staff, the timeliness of care in emergency departments still falls short of what the public should expect.

“The NHS is currently carrying 105,000 staff vacancies and the system remains under real pressure so we urgently need the Government to commit to producing a fully funded NHS workforce plan.

“These staffing gaps combined with severe staff shortages in social care mean the NHS is facing an uphill struggle to resolve long waits and improve the flow of patients through hospitals.”