The number of people enduring “trolley waits” of more than 12 hours in A&E departments has reached a record high. In November, some 10,646 people waited more than 12 hours in England’s hospitals from a decision to admit them to actually being admitted for treatment. The figure is up from 7,059 in October and is the highest for any calendar month since records began in August 2010. Overall, 120,749 people waited at least four hours from the decision to admit to being admitted in November, down only very slightly on the 121,251 in October.
NHS England said last month was the second busiest November on record for A&E, with more than two million patients seen at emergency departments and urgent treatment centres. Demand for NHS 111 services also remained high, with almost 1.4 million calls answered during November. The new data showed that the overall NHS waiting list for people needing hospital treatment remains at a record high, with 5.98 million people waiting at the end of October. Those having to wait more than 52 weeks to start treatment stood at 312,665 in October, up from 300,566 in the previous month and nearly double the number waiting a year earlier, in October 2020, which was 167,067. A total of 16,225 people in England were waiting more than two years to start routine hospital treatment, up from 12,491 at the end of September and around six times the 2,722 people who were waiting longer than two years in April.
NHS England pointed to data showing that hospitals are struggling to discharge patients who are medically fit to leave owing to problems with social care. On average, there were 10,500 patients each day last week who no longer needed to be in hospital but who were not discharged that day, NHS England said. This means that more than one in 10 beds were occupied by patients who were medically fit to leave but could not be discharged.
Post time: Dec-13-2021
