NHSE data reveals scale of the mountain we have to climb to ‘fix’ our health system 

Thursday 26 September 

The scale of the mountain the government must climb to resuscitate the emergency care system and ‘fix’ what is ‘broken’ has been laid bare with the release of new data by NHS England.  

The statistics, revealed today (Thursday 26 September) in the Hospital Accident & Emergency Activity publication, which covers April 2023 to March 2024, include information about wait times and attendances, including by age band and deprivation. 

It reveals that:  

• Over one in 10 people who turned up to our EDs last year waited 12 hours or more to be seen, admitted, transferred or discharged. 

• 439,4111 patients waited over 12 hours to be admitted to a ward following the decision to move them on from Emergency Departments. This is a 7% increase in patients waiting this long compared to last year, and 1,830 times what the number was a decade ago. 

• Just over seven out of 10 patients (72.1%) spent four hours or less in A&E. This is slightly higher compared to the previous year (70.8%). However, it is a 23.7 percentage point decrease compared to a decade ago. 

• There were around twice as many attendances to A&E departments in England for the 10% of the population living in the most deprived areas (3.3 million), compared with the least deprived 10% (1.7 million). 

Reacting to the data, Dr Adrian Boyle, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said: “There is a huge amount of information in this data set, much of which clearly indicates the issues we have been highlighting. 

“Just five trusts met the 78% four-hour standard, with none meeting the 95% enshrined in the NHS constitution. 

 “But as important as the four-hour standard is, we know where the true danger lies; in the excessively long stays of 12 hours or more. The scale of those is revealed in this data, with over 1.7 million people having to endure these stays. 

“This is affecting our most vulnerable, with people who are experiencing higher levels of deprivation relying more heavily on Urgency and Emergency Care.  

“The extent of the challenge we face is evident, but reinstating a functioning care system is possible. We have heard the government’s commitment to fixing what is broken and we look forward to contributing to that process.”