More than 1.5million sufferers waited 12 hours or extra after arriving at A&E in England previously yr.
Hospital chiefs final evening warned that ministers urgently want to attract up a plan to repair the over-stretched well being service.
Figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats present that 1,540,945 folks waited 12 hours earlier than being admitted, transferred or discharged within the 12 months to the top of final month. This equates to nearly one in ten (9.6%) sufferers, 5 instances increased than the NHS requirement that not more than 2% of sufferers ought to wait 12 hours or extra from their time of arrival at A&E.
Last month noticed the worst figures with a report 177,805, going through A&E waits longer than that point, which works out at 12.4% of sufferers. At Blackpool Teaching Hospitals, over one in 4 (26.3%) sufferers in January confronted A&E delays of 12 hours or extra, the worst within the nation.
This was adopted by Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital (25.4%), Lincolnshire Hospitals (24.5%) and Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals (23.1%). By distinction at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, just one% of sufferers in January waited 12 hours or extra after arriving at A&E.
Liberal Democrat well being spokeswoman Daisy Cooper mentioned: “These devastating delays lay bare the stark impact of this Government’s neglect of the NHS. Every day thousands of patients are being left scared and in pain in overcrowded A&Es, waiting for 12 hours or more to receive the care they need.
“Waits of 12 hours or more can have catastrophic consequences for people’s health, particularly the elderly and vulnerable. No-one should have to wait this long for care, yet in some areas these unacceptably long delays have become almost the norm. It’s time Conservative ministers started taking this NHS crisis seriously, instead of ignoring all the warning signs while patients suffer.”
NHS Providers chief government Sir Julian Hartley mentioned: “These unacceptably long waits for people in pain or distress are symptomatic of an overstretched healthcare service… We need sustained investment in services and a longer-term strategy to address the cycle of winter pressures that return year after year.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Cutting waiting lists is one of the government’s top five priorities and, despite winter pressures and the impact of industrial action, latest data shows overall NHS waiting lists have decreased for the third month in a row.
“A&E performance on four-hour waits also improved in January compared to December, with the number of people being seen within four hours rising to 70.3% despite seasonal winter pressures increasing and the highest number of January A&E attendances on record. We’re determined to continue improving patient care, having already delivered on our promise to create 5,000 extra permanent hospital beds and 10,000 hospital at home beds, freeing up capacity and cutting waiting times.”
‘My 89-year-old mum spent three days in a hospital foyer waiting for a bed’
An 89-year-old woman with dementia was forced to sleep in a hospital foyer for three days in a “dehumanising” display of the NHS crisis.
Greta Woolley, a retired shop worker from Rainham, was taken to A&E at Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham, Kent, on January 26 with a chest infection, urine infection and swollen left knee – symptoms that had previously been present when she had sepsis. But despite doctors deciding she needed to be admitted, she was not given a bed on a ward for 72 hours, instead having to wait on a trolley in a corridor.
Her daughter Jayne Woolley, 61, says the experience was hugely distressing and indignifying. She said: “I can not ever bear in mind it being this unhealthy… It is simply so dehumanising for everybody. A affected person subsequent to us was begging their son to return take them dwelling as they discovered the expertise so embarrassing.
“When mum acquired examined… she’s acquired a catheter fitted – she was within the hall, so everybody was wanting previous, everybody might see. There’s no dignity, there is no privateness and it is the identical for many households.”
(
Jayne Woolley / SWNS)
Mrs Woolley, who has Alzheimer’s illness, was lastly admitted to a ward on January 29 and stays in hospital being handled for her infections, acute kidney failure and osteoarthritis in her knee.
Her daughter added: “Her A&E experience certainly hasn’t helped her. She wasn’t able to rest as much as she wanted due to the chaos and noise, disruption and cold. They should shut the doors – it can’t go on like this.
“You see it busy on a Saturday with sports activities accidents and drunk folks, however by no means like this. It actually is a disaster and the workers are working as exhausting as they will, however there is no respite.”
Sarah Vaux, the interim chief nursing officer for Medway NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are very sorry that Ms Woolley spent so lengthy in our Emergency Department. Our hospital may be very busy as we proceed to see a excessive variety of sufferers who want admitting for remedy.
“Unfortunately this implies some sufferers wait longer than we want to be admitted to a ward. Our workers are working tirelessly to supply the very best take care of sufferers at this notably busy time.”