Monday 18 November 2024
Almost nine out of 10 UK A&E clinicians who responded to a survey by The Royal College of Emergency Medicine said they aren’t confident that their departments will cope well this winter.
And shockingly 94% think that patients are being put at risk due to the pressures currently being experienced.
RCEM conducted the poll between 7-13 November, asking department Clinical Leads – who are doctors responsible for patient safety in A&Es – a series of questions aimed at capturing a snapshot of the current state of overcrowding and the standard of care patients are receiving in their hospitals.
In total, representatives from 83 hospitals across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, responded. The results revealed:
It comes just weeks after the government unveiled its budget (30 October 2024), which failed to include any additional support to mitigate the looming winter crisis Emergency Departments are facing. And just days after the performance figures for A&Es in England indicated we are heading for another winter crisis.
President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Adrian Boyle, said: “This is a stark warning from those on the front line. Clinicians are worried and patients are unsafe.
“Winter is coming, and it looks like we are facing a massive crisis in every part of the UK.
“We cannot just ignore winter and our patients.
“Our patients, each one vulnerable and sick in need of care and comfort, each one someone’s mum, dad, gran or grandad, condemned to degrading and dehumanising so called ‘corridor care’. This euphemism, in reality, means people being stranded for hours on trolleys or chairs.
“And as every hour ticks by, the associated risk of those people dying as a result increases. Just last month, 162,931 people in England alone endured stays of 12+ in an A&E department.
“We speak of percentages and numbers but let’s remember we are talking about people, and a workforce running on fumes trying to do their best.
“All this with the backdrop of a government telling them they need to work harder and more effectively, but which has not invested any more resources for these winter months.
“In the budget there was nothing to address or ease the pressures in A&Es this winter, no increase in bed numbers, no added support for social care which could keep people out of hospital in the first place or allow them to leave when they are well enough.
“The government may have written off winter, but we haven’t. We will keep highlighting the harm, and what should be done to eradicate it, and holding them to account for the unavoidable and unacceptable risk our patients are being exposed to.”
See the National breakdowns for England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
