17.12.25
While people across the country are looking forward to the festive season, Emergency Departments are bracing for a gruelling few months.
That’s the message the Royal College of Emergency Medicine hopes MPs heed, as we launch a campaign to put Emergency Departments (EDs) at the top of their agenda.
This week, every MP in UK Parliament will have received a festive greetings card from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, highlighting the issue of overcrowding in A&E departments across the country.
In these cards, we emphasise how long waits in A&E of over 12 hours are dangerous and unfair on patients, and that they are costing lives.
On the front is an illustration featuring patients lined up on trolleys in front of the benches of the House of Commons, to show that treating patients outside of designated clinical spaces – so-called ‘corridor care’ – is unacceptable, wherever it is.
Hospitals are full to bursting; years of neglect by successive governments has meant seeing patients lining Emergency Department hallways waiting for a ward bed is no longer an uncommon sight.
It’s a year-round problem, but now that winter has hit – seasonal pressures like flu mean that the festive period is profoundly challenging.
The greetings cards call on the government to take three key actions on addressing this issue, which we know is costing lives:
- Prioritise reducing the number of patients experiencing waits of longer than 12 hours in A&E
- Ensure adequate supporting services are in place throughout the winter period to enable swift discharges
- Strengthen capacity within the social care system and address the causes of delayed discharges
RCEM also calls on all MPs, regardless of their party or position within the house, to lobby the government to take action now.
Dr Ian Higginson, RCEM President, said: “For many people, Christmas and the holiday season is a time of year they look forward to, where they can relax, take time away from work and enjoy time with their families and friends.
“But for those of us working in ED, the reality will be very different.
“December 25 is just another day, which means thousands of patients will be stuck waiting hours upon hours in noisy, chaotic and dangerous conditions in A&E because hospitals don’t have the capacity to take them in.
“This is happening because of a lack of political will to address this crisis. The problem has been neglected for far too long and this must stop. So-called ‘corridor care’ can only be stopped in the corridors of power.
“I hope MPs, when they open the cards from us, take our message to heart and use their positions to push the government into action.
“Don’t forget about us, and our patients, this Christmas.”
