Record 180,000 patients suffered ‘degrading’ 12 hour waits in A&E last month

The number of patients waiting more than 12 hours in A&E hit a record in January of almost 180,000 people.

Worsening pressures on A&E come as prime minister Rishi Sunak has officially missed his pledge, made in January last year, to cut the NHS waiting list.

NHS England began publishing previously-hidden data on patients waiting 12 hours or more last year, after reports by The Independent.

The latest figures for January show 178,000 people were waiting this long to be seen, treated or discharged after arriving from A&E – a record since February 2023 when the data was first published. In that month, 128,580 people waited more than 12 hours, and in December there were 156,000.

The number waiting at least four hours from the decision to admit to actual admission has also risen, from 148,282 in December to 158,721 last month – the second-highest figure on record.

Dr Tim Cooksley, past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, warned: “Degrading corridor care and prolonged waits causing significant harm is tragically and increasingly the expected state in urgent and emergency care.”

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Source: The Independent, 8 February 2024