Nearly 350,000 patients waited over 12 hours at A&E last year

A number equivalent to the population of Leicester waited longer than 12 hours for treatment in 2022

A record number of nearly 350,000 patients waited more than 12 hours to be seen at A&E in 2022.

In new figures analysed by the Liberal Democrats, it reveals a staggering rise in experiences of 12 hour delays in emergency care since 2015.

By last year, the number of patients waiting more than 12 hours for emergency admission reached 347,700 or a mean average of almost 1,000 patients a day.

These figures suggest that more people waited over 12 hours at A&E in just two days last year than in the whole of 2015.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey will today set out an NHS rescue plan to reduce the shocking A&E delays which he warned are “needlessly costing lives”.

Health secretary Steve Barclay has previously ruled out a 10 per cent pay rise for nurses, labelling it “not affordable” (PA)

Responding to the figures, Sir Ed said: “The appalling delays at A&E are needlessly costing lives as patients are left waiting hours on end for the treatment they need.

“The failure of the Conservative government to grip this crisis is simply unforgivable. Instead they have shamefully allowed the situation to go from bad to worse through years of neglect and failure.

“Rishi Sunak is in total denial about the scale of the problem facing our hospitals, social care and GP services.”

The party’s analysis, based on the latest NHS Digital data on emergency admissions to A&E, shows that delays have been steadily increasing every year since 2015.

Emergency health care has been under huge pressure this winter due a resurgence in Covid and a spike in seasonal flu.

Widespread industrial action has also led to strikes from nurses, ambulance workers and emergency call handlers, with further strike action planned throughout February.

Combined strike action between trade unions on February 6 could see the NHS facing the biggest strike in its 75-year history.

According to the analysis carried out by the Liberal Democrats, seven years ago just 1,306 patients waited over 12 hours to be seen at A&E in an emergency. This has since more than quadrupled to 8,270 in 2019, the year before the Covid pandemic began.

The figures come as further analysis by The Independent reveals almost 6,000 suffered permanent or long-term harm due to long waits in December 2022 in handing over patients outside A&Es.

A further 14,000 patients were likely to have suffered “moderate harm”, in a study carried out on NHS ambulance data and estimates of harm by the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE).

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has proposed recruiting more GPs and giving pharmacists more powers to reduce pressure on struggling A&E departments (PA Wire)

As reported in The Independent, long waits for treatment on hospital trolleys and in ambulances outside emergency departments exceeded 50,000 a week for the first time in December 2022.

The delays in emergency admissions were 10,000 a week at the beginning of the Covid pandemic.

Long delays are also causing “avoidable deaths” from heart attacks and vital stroke treatment, according to accounts told to The Independent.

Professor Mamas Mamas, council member for the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society, has warned that these delays have led to services “going back in time” with treatment plans and use of “clot-busting drugs” instead of life-saving open heart surgeries.

( The Independent)

Sir Ed continued: “We need a proper plan now to free up hospital beds, reduce A&E delays and bring the NHS back from the brink. That must start with recruiting more GPs, empowering our pharmacists and helping people to leave hospital and into social care.”

The plan has suggested recruiting 8,000 more GPs, giving pharmacists more powers to prescribe medicines and boosting funding to get eligible patients out of hospital and into social care, meaning fewer desperate people turn to A&E after struggling to secure a GP appointment.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are taking urgent action to improve access to urgent and emergency care - including investing up to £250 million of funding to immediately free hospital beds, alleviate pressures on A&E and unblock delays in handing patients over from ambulances.

“This is on top of £500 million to speed up the safe discharge of patients, and creating the equivalent of 7,000 more beds as well as establishing 24/7 data driven system control centres in every local area to manage demand and capacity.

“The NHS will set out detailed recovery plans for urgent and emergency care in the next few weeks, including ambitions to improve ambulance response times and A&E waiting times.”