UK emergency delays cause up to 500 deaths a week, leading health official says

Up to 500 patients in the UK are dying each week, due to emergency care delays, prompted by industrial actions and shortage of staff across the British hospitals, a senior healthcare official has warned.

Speaking to the Times Radio on Sunday, Dr. Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), said: “What we're seeing now in terms of these long waits is being associated with increased mortality, and we think somewhere between 300-500 people are dying as a consequence of delays and problems with urgent and emergency care each week.”

Boyle also revealed that the NHS had the “worst-ever performance” during December, after more than a dozen NHS trusts and ambulance services declared critical incidents over the festive period.

“We went into this December with the worst-ever performance against our target and the highest-ever occupancy levels in the hospital,” Boyle said.

UK NHS ‘buckling’: Number of flu cases in hospital seven times higher than last month

The UK health service is “buckling”, with the number of flu cases across English hospitals rising seven-fold in only a month.

According to a severe flu outbreak and rising COVID-19 cases across the country, bed occupancy remains particularly high in UK hospitals, with more than nine in 10 beds filled. The number of free beds has been at its lowest record in the last ten years period.

In November, 37,837 patients waited more than 12 hours in A&E for a decision to be admitted due to bed occupancy, NHS England figures show.

This is an almost 355 percent increase in comparison to the previous November when about 10,646 patients waited longer than 12 hours.

“If you look at the graphs, they all are going the wrong way, and I think there needs to be a real reset. We need to be in a situation where we cannot just shrug our shoulders and say 'This winter was terrible, let's do nothing until next winter',” Boyle added.

RCEM chief called on the government to increase the capacity within hospitals, adding that “we need to make sure that there are alternative ways so that people aren't all just funneled into the ambulance service and emergency department.”

“We cannot continue like this - it is unsafe and it is undignified,” he stressed.

Ambulance staff strikes in England: Hospitals urged to free up beds as 'extensive disruption' looms

Hospitals in England are urged to free up beds ahead of “extensive disruption” caused by ambulance staff strikes.

Meanwhile, according to new data by NHS England, there were 3,746 patients a day in the hospital with flu last week, up from 520 a month ago.

The soaring number of infected cases and lack of beds, along with a shortage of staff at UK hospitals, have created fresh chaos across the country.

Tim Cooksley, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, has said that pressure on the NHS is worse now than it was at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, calling on the authorities to take “urgent action” to bring the NHS back from the brink.

“There has never been a greater recognition amongst all staff that our current situation is worse than it has ever been,” Cooksley said, adding that “there is a complete acceptance from all colleagues now that this is different from all previous winters - and we need urgent action now.”

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