22 March 2025
The Royal College of Emergency has described the findings of recent data, which reveals more than one in 10 patients endured a dangerous 12-hour pre-admission wait this winter, as a ‘national disgrace’ but warned it is only a part of the full picture, with actual wait times much longer.
The latest figures unveiled today (22 March 2025), stem from research conducted by the House of Commons Library at the request of the Liberal Democrats.
It reveals from December 2024 – February 2025, over 163,000 people in England waited 12 hours or more after the decision to admit them to hospital was made. This is up 15% compared to the same timeframe last year (142,590).
These stays are referred to as ‘trolley waits’.
However, the definition only relates to the time the patient stays in the Emergency Department after it was decided they needed inpatient care – it does not include any time a person may have waited before that, meaning that the time a person actually stays in the department before getting moved to a ward may be significantly longer.
The data comes as the Liberal Democrats gather for their Spring Conference in Harrogate, where they will call on the government to end corridor care by the end of this Parliament.
The party wants the government to introduce a new ring-fenced winter-proofing fund for the NHS including to increase the number of hospital beds, and has urged cross-party talks on social care to conclude by the end of the year.
Responding, the President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Adrian Boyle, said, “We thank the Liberal Democrats for highlighting this vitally important issue and for their commitment to tackling the annual winter crisis.
“The number of patients in England who endured a so called ‘trolley wait’ this winter is a national disgrace.
“We often talk about data and figures but these are people – 163,000 grandparents, parents, children and friends. Through no fault of their own, they watched the clock tick for hours and hours as they waited for a ward bed to become free.
“And let’s be clear, people aren’t facing these long stays just in winter. It’s a 365-day problem – year in, year out.
“Extremely long stays in ED, often on a trolley in a corridor, are not just inconvenient and undignified – they are dangerous.
“In 2023, we calculated that there were almost 14,000 deaths associated with these long stays – and we believe that the figures for 2024 will be worse.
“We urge the government to read this data, hear the calls, and act through various upcoming reforms, including the Urgent and Emergency Care plan. They can’t let the situation in our EDs get any worse – patients’ lives are at risk.”
