24 March 2026
Without a sustained political focus on reducing extreme long waits in Scotland’s Emergency Departments, at the current rate of progress, it could take more than 200 years to reduce the number of people enduring these waits down to levels seen in 2016.
That’s the warning from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine following new analysis published today (24 March).
Last year, more than 75,077 people waited 12 hours or more to be admitted, discharged or transferred from major EDs in Scotland.
While this number is an ever so slight improvement from 2024 (76,510), at the current rate (a reduction of 1.8% a year) it would take 237 years to reduce these extreme long waits to their 2016 levels (1,005).
These statistics and latest analysis are contained in RCEM’s ‘State of Emergency Medicine in Scotland’ report, published today. It sets out what patients and staff faced in Emergency Departments across the country last year, including the very real impact long waits are having on patients.
Further analysis for the previous year (2025) reveals of those patients who waited 12 hours or more, 58,870 were waiting to be admitted to a hospital ward for further care.
Using the Standard Mortality Ratio – a method which calculates that there will be one additional (excess) death for every 72 patients that spend eight–12-hours in ED prior to their admission – RCEM conservatively estimates that there were 818 associated excess deaths related with long waiting times in 2025.
That’s the lives of 16 people lost every week. And remains unchanged from the previous year.
Dr Jayne McLaren, RCEM’s Vice Chair in Scotland, said: “It’s deeply concerning, and put bluntly, a national disgrace, that over the course of a year, there has been no meaningful improvement in the number of patients waiting 12 hours or more in Emergency Departments across the country.
“A small reduction of just over 1,400 patients waiting this long in the space of a year is nothing to celebrate. Because look at the sheer scale who still waited this long – 75,077. These are people not just numbers. And more often than not, they would’ve experienced this extreme wait on a trolley in a corridor, or another inappropriate space that was never designed to deliver care in.
“But what’s most upsetting, as an Emergency Medicine consultant, whose whole profession is to help people in their time of need, is seeing how many people died because of the system not working as it should. Ultimately, because there wasn’t an inpatient bed for them when they needed to be moved to a ward.
“People are losing their lives. And today’s figures suggest that the same number of people died in association with long waits as in 2024.
“This is a conservative estimate too. We know there may well be many more tragic deaths linked to long stays because this methodology only applies to one group of patients.
“That needs to spark anger and upset from those in power to bring about the changes that are desperately needed in our hospital system.
“Our State of Emergency Care report should serve as essential reading for ministers, NHS leaders and policymakers. It sets out clear, practical recommendations to make our emergency care system something that we can be proud of once again.
“Patients, and those working within our Emergency Departments deserve so much better – a service that is safe, timely, and fit for purpose.”