PATIENTS GETTING TROLLIED Numbers waiting 12 hrs for bed rises 10,000%
MORE patients than ever are being forced to languish on hospital trolleys for over 12 hours.
Fresh NHS England data out today shows a surge in the numbers enduring long waits in English A&E departments.
Fifteen patients waited more than 12 hours for a bed in the coldest months between January and March 2012.
This has rocketed to 1,597 over the same period this year, the highest on record. It represents an increase of
10,546%.
The lack of hospital beds forces patients to wait on trolleys or chairs, often in side-rooms.
The NHS target is for 95% of patients to be discharged, transferred or admitted into hospital for treatment within four hours.
But tens of thousands of patients are enduring waits of four hours or more.
Between January and March
2012 the target was missed for
40,022 patients, jumping to 177,012 for the same period this year – a 342% rise.
Royal College of Emergency Medicine president Dr Taj Hassan, inset below, said: “The figures show just how bad waiting times have become for patients in the depths of winter.
“Patients should not have to endure such long waits, particularly in colder conditions when frail patients are more vulnerable.
“This huge increase is unacceptable and shows that despite planning for winter every year we have consistently failed to do enough.
“Winter last year was relatively mild and without a major outbreak of flu.
“There are indications that the flu vaccine will not be as successful this year and as such we anticipate conditions will be even more difficult this winter.”
Dr Hassan believes long waits are down to “exit block” with thousands of patients every year unable to leave hospital due to problems arranging social care. He argued the NHS needs around
5,000 extra beds to bring the crisis under control with bed occupancy at 92%, significantly higher than the safe level of 85%.
“Over the last five years there has been a continued reduction in bed numbers, yet an increase in patients needing to be admitted,” he said.
“Along with more doctors, we desperately need more beds to stop the system from grinding to a halt.”
The College said there has also been an increase in 12hour waits in the spring months – a time when pressures traditionally start to ease.
Dr Hassan added: “It is deeply concerning that there has also been a huge increase in the spring months and shows that our problems are not just limited to winter.”
NHS national director for emergency care Pauline Philip said staff work hard to see every patient swiftly and any delay is “regrettable”.