A concerning report released today reveals an alarming increase in the number of patients who die after experiencing prolonged waits in A&E departments. Over the past decade, these deaths have surged nearly tenfold.
In England alone, delays in emergency departments were associated with nearly 16,000 deaths last year, averaging more than 300 fatalities each week.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has criticized the government, stating that the incidence of long waits has “skyrocketed” since 2021. The RCEM accuses officials of favoring short-term solutions instead of addressing the root causes with sustainable strategies.
While the death toll has slightly decreased from the 16,644 recorded in 2024, it still drastically exceeds the 1,657 deaths reported in 2015, highlighting the severity of the issue.
The RCEM, emphasizing that its current figures might understate the reality, has called for a national initiative to eliminate deaths caused by waiting times by the year 2030.
In its “State Of Emergency Medicine In England” report, the RCEM emphasized, “There can no longer be any doubt about the magnitude of the challenges confronting emergency medicine.”
Sick patients are routinely ‘double-bunked’ in cubicles meant for one, or treated in corridors, walk-in cupboards and other areas not designed for medical care, the document explained.
This means ‘privacy, dignity and clinical safety are impossible to maintain’.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has called for a national commitment to eradicate waiting-time deaths by 2030
It also found nearly 17million patients attended ‘Type 1’ emergency departments in 2025 – a 24-hour consultant-led facility – the highest number ever recorded.
But just 60.5 per cent were admitted, transferred or discharged in four hours – well below the NHS target of 95 per cent.
And 1.74million patients waited at least 12 hours, while 489,138 remained for 24 hours or longer – an increase of 150,000 in three years.
The report said: ‘For every 72 patients who wait between eight and 12 hours before admission, there is one additional death.’
One death linked to excessive waiting times was Marina Young, 46, who spent 39 hours in an overcrowded A&E at Royal Preston
Hospital in 2022 while suffering an asthma attack. A coroner concluded in 2024 that her death had been caused by neglect.
Dr Ian Higginson, president of the RCEM, described the statistics as ‘horrifying’.
‘We’ve got to ask what it will take for this to become a proper priority,’ he said.
‘If this was any other part of society, or indeed any other part of the health service, this would be a national scandal. We’re calling on the Government to stop the quick fixes and to start coming up with long-term strategic solutions.’
On viewing the findings, the Royal College of Nursing said A&E waiting times are a ‘catastrophe that has been unfolding unchecked in our hospitals for far too long’.
… and hundreds more harmed by blunders during operations
There were 403 serious preventable mistakes recorded by the NHS in the past year, data shows.
The so-called ‘never events’ – defined as avoidable incidents that are so serious they should not be able to happen – included the wrong type of surgery being carried out and equipment being left inside patients.
Some 166 cases related to wrong site surgery – 17 had a procedure intended for another patient – 40 where treatments were to the wrong part of the body, and eight where a procedure carried out was not part of the surgical plan.
Another 121 of the never events related to objects being left inside patients, including cotton wool balls in two cases, 26 cases of guide wires, one nasal pack that stops bleeding and a catheter.
In one case, a patient had an organ or body part mistakenly removed.
Six people suffered incisions to the wrong body part and 30 had injections in the incorrect place.
The total number of 403 incidents recorded between last April and March is the same as the previous year. An NHS spokesman said trusts would ‘take effective steps to learn’ from the events.
