The number of patients dying after enduring long waits in A&E departments has risen almost tenfold ina decade, a damning report reveals today.
Nearly 16,000 deaths in England last year were linked to such delays – the equivalent of more than 300 every week.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) found long waits have ‘skyrocketed’ since 2021 and blasted the Government for focusing on ‘quick fixes’ over long-term solutions.
Although deaths were down slightly from 16,644 in 2024, they were almost ten times greater than the 1,657 recorded in 2015.
Warning that its latest figure is a conservative estimate, the RCEM called for a national commitment to eradicate waiting-time deaths by 2030.
Its State Of Emergency Medicine In England report added: ‘There can no longer be any doubt as to the scale of the problem facing 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.
