Thursday 24 October 2024
The Welsh government must prioritise reducing Emergency Department waiting times alongside specialty waiting lists.
That’s the response of The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) as the latest performance data shows last month (September 2024) one in seven people waited 12 hours or more in Emergency Departments in Wales.
The NHS activity and performance summary released today – Thursday 24 October by the Welsh Government – also revealed the number of people who waited 12 hours or longer last month (a total of 9,625 patients) has nearly quadrupled compared to September 2017 (2,424).
The stark Emergency Department data comes as Wales Secretary for Health Jeremy Miles announced £28m to help the NHS cut the longest waiting times for specialist appointments.
Following this commitment RCEM has called for the Welsh government to not lose focus of the danger posed by extremely long stays in Emergency Departments.
Dr Rob Perry, RCEM Vice President for Wales said: “These statistics go some way to illustrate the extreme strain the Emergency Care system is under in this country, but does not truly capture the magnitude of distress felt by people forced to endure waiting times of this length when they are simply trying to access health care.
“We recognise the need to reduce appointment waiting lists and any funding dedicated to easing pressure on the system is welcome, but we caution the government that it must also address the danger caused by extended stays in Emergency Departments.
“We know waiting times of eight to twelve hours are associated with avoidable deaths, and it is frankly terrifying that such a large proportion of people coming to our Emergency Departments are waiting this long.
“The new Westminster government has committed to fixing the NHS, including a focus on reducing extended Emergency Department waiting times. We urge the Welsh government to follow its example, to #ResuscitateEmergencyCare and give the people of Wales the health care system they deserve.”
The full data set can be found here.
A graphical representation of the data can be found here.
