Thursday 12 September 2024
The Government has today become the first to accept and acknowledge the dangerous and unacceptable risks of patients waiting extreme lengths of time in A&E departments previously revealed by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM).
In a speech today (12 September 2024) to launch the Independent Review of the NHS in England, compiled by Lord Ara Darzi, the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, referenced RCEM’s research on the number of deaths related to long waits, saying: “Some of these failings are literally life and death. Take the waiting times in A&E.
“More than 100,000 infants waited more than six hours last year and nearly a tenth of all patients are now waiting for 12 hours or more.
“That’s not just a source of fear and anxiety, it’s leading to thousands of avoidable deaths. That phrase ‘avoidable deaths’ should always be chilling.
“That’s people’s loved ones who could’ve been saved.
“Doctors and nurses whose whole vocation is to save them, hampered from doing so. It’s devastating. Heart-breaking. Infuriating. And that’s just scratching the surface.”
The Prime Minister’s comments build on the assessment from Lord Darzi who described A&E as being in “an awful state” and noted that the first priority must be eliminating very long waits in Emergency Departments.
Lord Darzi’s report specifically referenced RCEM’s excess mortality calculations which revealed that more than 14,000 deaths in 2023 were linked to long A&E waits and stressed the scale of the problem by saying this is “more than double all British armed forces’ combat deaths since the health service was founded in 1948.”
Responding to the report and the Prime Minister’s comments, Dr Adrian Boyle, President of The Royal College of Emergency Medicine said: “The significance of what has been published and said today cannot be underestimated.
“For the first time the Government has acknowledged the scale of the problem we are facing and the serious harm it is causing to patients – many of whom are the most vulnerable we see.
“Now Pandora’s box has been opened, the façade of ‘everything is fine’ has been demolished and the true shocking state of the NHS cannot be denied or ignored.
“Lord Darzi and his team have done an extraordinary job of gathering, analysing and collating a huge amount of data and information and they must be commended for that.
“RCEM is pleased to have been asked to contribute to this seminal piece of work, and that our evidence regarding long A&E waits, the danger to life they create, and the inequity of care experienced by those forced to endure them, are reflected in the report.
“Now we must start the no small task of fixing what is ‘broken’.
“We know this will take tough decisions, significant investment and time – and await the autumn budget to see how the Government plans to embark on this work.
“But we must not forget that we are on the verge of what will no doubt be another extremely challenging winter in our Emergency Departments; for those who staff them and for those seeking care within their walls. However, we will get through it as we always do.
“This report must mark the beginning of the rebuilding of our NHS, and we look forward to working with the Government on this vitally important task.”
The independent review was commissioned by Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, on 11 July 2024, just days after he took on the role, and appointed Labour’s former Health Minister and surgeon, and now independent peer Lord Darzi to lead the investigation.
RCEM was invited to join the Expert Reference Group and took part in two evidence sessions over the summer as well as making a written submission.
The College’s research is referenced several times within the report, specifically its excess death calculations and its analysis of long waits broken down by age and for people experiencing mental ill health.
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