Long wait times at A&E departments have been linked to 23,000 more patient deaths than expected.

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The Royal College of Emergency Medicine connected prolonged A&E wait times to an excessive amount of patient deaths

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine declared that there were ‘catastrophic consequences’ to patient safety, as they revealed the severe extent of NHS waiting times.

In 2022, around 1.66 million people in England had to wait more than 12 hours in A&E prior to being admitted, transferred, or discharged.

The medical college then calculated the standardised mortality ratio associated with the extended waits.

A standardised mortality ratio deduces whether a particular population is more, less, or equally as likely to die compared to the general population.

The RCEM concluded that for every 72 patients waiting for 8 to 12 hours in A&E, one extra death occurred - totaling an estimated 23,003 extra deaths.



(Image Source: https://metro.co.uk)

An increasing number of people have been waiting in ambulances outside A&E

NHS England said the statistics were ‘very unlikely to give a complete or definite image’ with regard to additional deaths.

RCEM president Dr. Adrian Boyle commented: ‘These data, although extremely concerning, are not surprising. Long waiting periods are linked to considerable patient harm and patient deaths - the extent shown here for 2022 is particularly distressing.

‘The data displays how essential it is to have transparent information.’

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