Elderly patients waiting for seven hours on A&E trolleys

ELDERLY patients are waiting an average of seven hours on A&E trolleys, with delays of five days in some cases.

NHS data show almost 100,000 elderly patients endured waits of more than 12 hours last year – a 25-fold increase since 2019.

The figures, revealed under Freedom of Information (FOI) disclosures, show average trolley waits for patients over the age of 65 reached seven hours in 2023. One elderly patient at Great Western Hospital in Swindon waited 131 hours, or five and a half days, to be admitted to wards after a decision to admit, the records show.

The figures show two in three patients facing 12-hour waits in A&E were pensioners, prompting warnings that the elderly are hardest hit by the “corridor care crisis.”

The statistics come from responses from 48 of 140 NHS hospital trusts, meaning the true numbers are likely to be far higher.

Sixteen of the trusts admitted patients had been left waiting in hospital corridors for two days or more.

Published NHS data show more than 1.5 million patients faced waits of 12 hours in major A&E departments in England last year. In more than one million cases, a decision had been taken to admit such patients, with delays usually caused by shortages of beds.

The FOI data shows elderly patients typically face longer waits than other patients. The average wait of seven hours for elderly patients in 2023 compared to six hours for all patients.

The Liberal Democrats, who compiled the data, called for an urgent investment in front-line care, with an expansion in fully staffed beds, and a package of social care reform to reduce the number of people stuck in hospital despite being medically well.

Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: “These shocking figures reveal a corridor care crisis, with elderly patients left waiting for days in A&E corridors to get the treatment they need.”

A spokesman for Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “Great Western Hospitals, like the wider NHS, frequently faces very high demand from patients who need a hospital bed. This does mean that on occasion some patients are having to wait a long time to be admitted to a ward.”