Wednesday 12 February 2025
A ‘harrowing’ new report which sees patients sharing their experiences of attending Welsh Emergency Departments should galvanise the Welsh Government into action.
This is the response form The Royal College of Emergency Medicine as a new report concludes urgent and emergency care in Wales is “failing too many people, and change is too slow.”
Llais, an independent body set up by the Welsh Government to give the people of Wales a stronger voice in their health and social care services, collated the experiences of 700 people through surveys, focus groups and visits to 42 hospitals, minor injury, and medical assessment units over five weeks from September 2024.
The report, entitled ‘Getting Urgent and Emergency Healthcare in Welsh Hospitals’, released today – Wednesday 12 February 2025, described Emergency Departments at Welsh hospitals to be at a “breaking point” and said the experiences highlighted “fall far short of commitments set out [by the Welsh Government].”
While the dedication of ED staff was praised, the most common concerns cited were long waits – sometimes of up to 24 hours – and “crowded and uncomfortable” waiting areas; with more than one patient describing “awful” experiences, and the department being like a “war zone”.
Dr Rob Perry, RCEM’s Vice President for Wales said: “This is an important and harrowing report, and we commend Llais for giving patients a voice and helping them to share their experiences.
“Working in Emergency Medicine means our contact with patients is often fleeting. Our principal aim is that they spend as little time in our department as possible, so we rarely get the chance to hear and digest what their experience was like. But this report does exactly that.
“As ever patients are very understanding of the pressure clinicians are under, but they should not be in a position where they are resigned to long stays or an Emergency Department full to bursting is considered normal.
“I hope that everyone with the power to effect change in the Emergency Care system in Wales reads this report and acts. If these testimonies are not a catalyst for change I am not sure what would be.
“The people of Wales deserve better, and it is down to the Welsh Government to provide it.”
