‘Up to 500 people may die each week’ due to delays in emergency care | UK News

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A senior healthcare official has warned that around 500 people could die every week because emergency care is delayed.

Dr Adrian Boyle, chair of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said he believed waiting times for December would be the worst he had ever seen.

More than a dozen NHS trusts and ambulance services have reported serious incidents over the festive period, as severe flu outbreaks and rising COVID cases put pressure on the system.

Read more: The number of hospitalized flu cases is seven times higher than in November

Dr Boyle told The Times Radio: “We entered last December with the worst performance ever against our target and the highest occupancy levels ever at the hospital.

“We don’t know about the waiting time numbers because they don’t come out for two weeks; I’d be surprised if they weren’t the absolute worst we’ve seen during December.

“What we’re seeing now in terms of these long waiting times is associated with increased mortality, and we think somewhere between 300-500 people die as a result of delays and problems with urgent and emergency care every week. We actually need to get this under control.”

In November, 37,837 patients waited more than 12 hours at A&E for a decision on admission, according to NHS England figures.

This represents an increase of nearly 355% from last November, when about 10,646 patients waited more than 12 hours.

Dr Boyle added: “If you look at the graphs, they’re all going in the wrong direction, and I think a real reset is needed. We need to be in a situation where we can’t just shrug our shoulders and say ‘this winter’ has been terrible, let’s do something.” Until next winter.”

“We need to increase our capacity within our hospitals, we need to make sure there are alternative routes so that not all people are directed only to the ambulance service and the emergency department.

“We can’t go on like this – it’s unsafe and insulting.”

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2:35 Half of the Staffordshire ambulances line up outside the hospital

Patients were reportedly waiting hours for a bed and ambulances carrying patients were stuck outside hospitals for hours while they waited to hand them over.

Sky News revealed on New Year’s Eve that more than half of Staffordshire ambulances were queuing outside Royal Stoke Hospital, with one paramedic and a UNISON representative saying it was “the worst we’ve ever seen”.

Last week, one in five patients in ambulances in England waited more than an hour to be handed over to A&E teams.

Dr. Boyle added that it was “never too late” to get a flu shot, and said those who qualify should do so to reduce pressure on hospitals.

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