England’s EDs in a state of ‘desperation, frustration and exhaustion’ as winter pressures pummel the system
Emergency Departments across England are running on ‘desperation, frustration and exhaustion’ as they struggle to cope with additional pressure on the system because of winter.
That’s the message from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine as new data reveals the grip winter viruses are having on hospitals, the current state of corridor care in departments and how a new record has been broken for 12-hour ‘trolley waits’ last year.
Data out today (15 January 2025) from NHSE’s weekly situation reports, which covers the week 5 January to 11 January 2025 show for all trust types, there was an average of 2,725 patients in hospital with flu each day.
Meanwhile there’s been a 57% rise in norovirus cases, commonly referred to as the winter vomiting bug.
Hospital occupancy remains dangerously high with more than 94 out of 100 beds (95,799) occupied. The level considered safe is 85% and more than 11,145 would need to be made available for this level to be achieved.
Dr Ian Higginson, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said: “This data paints an incredibly worrying and horrible picture of what state our Emergency Departments are in. They are running on desperation, frustration and exhaustion.
“This is reinforced by what our members are telling us. Clinical leads from 81 EDs in England have said the average longest wait for a bed was over 48 hours on Monday.
“And across these departments, 41.5% of all patients were waiting for a bed on a ward. These patients are essentially stuck – they no longer need to be in ED but there’s no available bed for them to move into.
“We often talk in numbers and statistics. But let’s remember, each figure represents a person. A person who came to us when they were ill and in need of quality care. And behind each person was a team of dedicated emergency clinicians who are trying their best to deliver care in these conditions.
“The reality inside our hospitals this week left many to declare critical incidents – a last resort alarm for help. If the system was flowing as it should, there wouldn’t be the need for this.
“We have ambulances queued up outside departments, with ill patients inside, unable to come into the ED because there’s simply no space for them.
“We have departments full of patients, being treated on trolleys in corridors, chairs, and other non-clinical spaces because we are full to bursting.
“Despite still being in the depths of the cold, planning for the next winter season must start now. We look forward to continuing talks with NHS England, members of parliament, and health care leaders. We all share the same common goal – to end corridor care, to end long waits, and to end the inevitable winter crisis.”
The data comes during a week when week multiple hospitals were forced to declare ‘critical incidents’ due to exceptionally high workloads on A&Es.
But EDs were already fragile heading into winter. New analysis RCEM of NHSE’s monthly ED performance data has revealed last year, 554,251 people waited 12 hours or more after the decision to admit them to hospital was made. That’s the worst year on record.
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.
