Thursday 19 December 2024
The Welsh government must ‘listen to those on the frontline’ of emergency care as health board issues capacity warning.
This is the call from The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) as data shows more than one in seven people waited 12 hours or longer in Emergency Departments (EDs) across the country last month.
The data, released today (Thursday 19 December 2024) by the Welsh Government showed in November nearly a quarter (23.3%) of people waited eight hours or longer and more than one in seven (14.7%) waited 12 hours or longer in Emergency Departments across in the country.
Last week RCEM said that the Welsh government’s Draft Budget for 2025/6 had “left Emergency Departments out in the cold” as it failed to include details of any additional support for Urgent and Emergency Care as EDs face a predictable increase in pressure over winter.
Dr Rob Perry, Vice President for RCEM Wales said: “With health boards sounding the alarm it is vital that those in power heed our calls for more detail around what support will be allocated to address the immediate crisis in Emergency Care.
“Emergency Departments across the country are, as the data and our members’ experience illustrate, under huge demand, but this level of burnout and the extensive wait times currently being experienced by patients does not have to be an inevitability. Much needed improvements in Urgent and Emergency Care can coexist with equally needed action to reduce appointment waiting times and develop workforce training.
“Now is the time for those with the power to make a difference to listen to the people on the frontline of Emergency Care and #ResuscitateEmergencyCare in Wales once and for all.”
Last month, an RCEM survey of Emergency Department clinical leaders in Wales revealed 89% felt patients are coming to harm because of the conditions they are currently experiencing and 89% had patients being cared for in corridors.
A graphical representation of the data can be found here.
