The Royal College of Emergency Medicine says NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care must focus on reducing the longest and most dangerous waits as Emergency Departments head into the depths of winter.
That’s the call as the latest performance data, published today (13 November 2025) from NHS England, revealed 164,880 patients waited 12 hours or more to be admitted, discharged or transferred from a major Emergency Department last month.
That’s the second highest number on record for the month of October.
It means one in nine patients endured this wait last month.
The data, covering October 2025, also shows:
There were 1,481,222 attendances to major EDs – the busiest October on record
Of these patients, 60.1% (590,612) were seen within the target of four hours – well below the NHSE standard of 95%.
On any given day last month, there were around 13,117 patients who were well enough to be discharged from hospital but couldn’t be – often due to the lack of appropriate social care options. At the same time, there were 13,124 patients in EDs waiting for a bed to become available on a ward. Hospitals in England cannot afford for this to be the case given that they are nearing capacity with bed occupancy at 93.6% (not including those beds being cleaned, turned over or needing repairs).
54,314 people waited 12 hours or more after the decision to admit them to hospital was made – commonly referred to as a ‘trolley wait’.
For the first time, NHS England has also today published A&E performance data from each individual hospital which is something RCEM has been pushing for, and welcomed, when the commitment was made in June.
Dr Ian Higginson, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said: “First, we want to thank DHSC and NHSE for delivering on their commitment to publish A&E performance data for each and every Emergency Department.
“This was the result of intense lobbying by RCEM and for the first time, it paints the true and transparent picture of the pressures and challenges we are facing. And it’s bleak.
“Earlier this week, NHS Chief Executive Sir Jim Mackey, said ‘there’s no doubt’ this winter will be one of the toughest the health service has faced.
“And he’s right: this winter is shaping up to be awful for our patients and staff.
“Long waits are already increasing, and so too are delayed discharges. It’s a deeply worrying trend on the cusp of winter.
“Now is the time for policy makers and politicians to focus on how we make our hospitals less full, so there are inpatient beds for our patients in Emergency Departments when they need them. When there aren’t beds: they wait in our corridors. It’s undignified, and dangerous.
“The crisis in our departments is affecting our brilliant ED teams, who are feeling increasingly disillusioned with the failure to address the core problems. Each day, we are putting on our scrubs knowing we will treat vulnerable patients in a corridor.
“At the end of the month, the government will be delivering its budget. The Chancellor has already flagged the government will aim to bring down waiting lists for planned care, and we hope to see a commitment to tackle waits in our departments for patients who didn’t plan to be with us. This requires a political commitment to invest in hospital and social care capacity, which has been missing for a long time and remains that way. That’s why it’s a political failure.”
The data comes after the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Emergency Care published a comprehensive report this week on corridor care.
The research was compiled by RCEM, revealing what patients are experiencing when they seek urgent or emergency care in ED, the harm they are exposed to, and what needs to be done to address this crisis.