RCEM explains: Long waits and excess deaths (24 February 2023)

Summary

Emergency care services in the UK face an unparalleled crisis, with more patients than ever before experiencing extremely long waiting times in Emergency Departments (EDs), associated with patient harm and excess deaths. This explainer from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) outlines the latest data on ED waiting times and the impact this is having on patient safety.

Content

Key insights

• In 2022, 1.65 million people waited 12 hours or more from their time of arrival (TOA) in an ED. This figure is 4.8 times the number of 12-hour Decision to Admit (DTA) waits reported, demonstrating the metric is misleading.
• From April 2023, NHS England will routinely publish 12-hour TOA data, a vital first step toward reducing long and unnecessary waiting times in EDs.
• We must have an accurate picture of these long waiting times, as they can have catastrophic consequences for patient safety and mortality. Using the Standard Mortality Ratio (SMR) and the 12-hour TOA figure, we estimate 23,003 excess patient deaths in 2022 in England were associated with long stays in EDs.
• While we welcome the Government publishing the data, we seek assurance that this data will be published on a monthly basis at ED level, so that hospitals can use this information to improve quality of care and ensure patient safety.