21 May 2026
Record-busting waiting times, thousands of patients stuck for more than 12 hours – and people coming to harm.
That is the dire state of Wales’ Emergency Departments and what the new Plaid Cymru-run Welsh Government must take concerted action to improve before things deteriorate further.
Fixing this, the Royal College of Emergency is warning today (21 May), must be its top priority.
New figures from NHS Wales show that, in April 2026, around one in seven patients at a major ED in Wales waited more than 12 hours after arriving to be discharged, admitted or transferred.
That’s more than 10,000 patients, many of them life-threateningly sick or injured, waiting over half a day just to find out if they need further treatment in hospital or if they’re safe to leave the department.
The NHS constitutional standard is that 95% of patients pass through departments within four hours. Last month, barely half (53.1%) did – the worst performance for an April since records began in 2010.
Dr Rob Perry, RCEM Wales Vice President, said: “Welsh Emergency Departments are in a state of total disrepair.
“Patients line our departments each and every day, many of them stuck on trolleys for hours.
“This is not what an ED should be for. In a functioning system, patients would be able to come to our departments with confidence they will flow through in good time – either ending up in a bed, sent home or transferred elsewhere.
“But we do not operate in a functional system right now. For many years, the wrong solutions, such as trying to reduce demand, have been pursued by successive governments and the impact on patients has been catastrophic.”
Driving the overcrowding disaster in Welsh EDs, in large part, is exit block at the ‘back door’ of hospitals. This is when hospitals are unable to discharge patients from inpatient ward beds – a phenomenon also known as delayed discharge.
Last month, an average of 1,275 hospital beds each day in Wales were occupied by patients who were medically fit to leave, but unable to be discharged. This is a slight, and welcome, improvement – but still far too high.
These are beds which, if freed up, could be used to admit patients from the ED and significantly ease overcrowding.
“The new Welsh Government has a mountain to climb and the challenge of fixing our EDs should not be underestimated – there is no single cure-all.
“But the good news is it is not impossible. Focusing on the flow of patients throughout their entire journey in the hospital, from arrival at the front door to discharge at the back, would massively ease the problem.
“RCEM looks forward to working with the new government to help it dig our system out of the hole it is currently in.”