11 May 2023
Responding to the latest Emergency Department performance figures published by NHS England for April 2023, Dr Adrian Boyle, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said:
“The improvement in performance is welcome and indicates early signs of a long road to recovery. However, these improvements are only comparative to the past six months which saw the worst performance on record. There are still significant numbers of patients facing dangerously long waits in overcrowded Emergency Departments and hard-working staff continue to be stretched. We cannot be complacent with these data.
“Bed occupancy remains at a dangerous level, significantly higher than the recommended safe level of 85%, as there continue to be high numbers of ‘trolley’ waits. High bed occupancy levels and ‘trolley’ waits are closely linked as delays in discharging patients mean we are unable to admit patients to a bed, causing delays for patients and poor flow through our hospitals. The system continues to be gridlocked.
“It is vital that NHS England implement its Urgent and Emergency Care delivery plan: expanding the bed base; increasing clinical input into NHS 111; and reducing the high bed occupancy and long patient stays in hospitals by improving discharges. These continue to be urgent priorities that must be sustained, we will be looking closely at the implementation of these measures. We are disappointed and puzzled to see that the number of general and acute beds available at Type 1 acute Trusts has actually fallen by 1,600 despite NHS England’s pledge in January to open 5,000 more by next winter – this is evidently a step in the wrong direction that will only exacerbate the delays in Emergency Care.
“Despite shortfalls in the Emergency Medicine workforce, staff continue to stretch themselves to ensure they are delivering for patients. We thank them for their continued hard work and efforts. However, they cannot continue to do more with less, and the threat of an ‘exodus’ of staff from Emergency Medicine remains high as many continue to face burnout. The NHS workforce plan, that has been greatly delayed, is crucial, but it will only be meaningful if it contains figures, projections, and commitments as well as urgent measures to retain existing staff. NHS staff must not be let down with a hollow plan that contains no detail.”
Notes to editor
NHS England: Supplementary ECDS Analysis April 2023 final (12-hour length of stay data measured from the time of arrival) data show:
The latest Emergency Department performance figures published by NHS England for April 2023 for show:
Beds data for April 2023 show:
Five priorities for UK Governments to #ResuscitateEmergencyCare: https://rcem.ac.uk/resuscitating-emergency-care/