The systemic troubles within the NHS are well documented and it is undeniable that the NHS is under significant strain due to staffing and resource issues combined with a growing population. One of the parts of the NHS where this is most apparent is emergency care, where patients are being forced to wait for hours and hours in corridors and face substantial delays with being assessed and being admitted to a ward thereafter. Prompt diagnosis and treatment is often crucial and there is the risk that, whilst waiting, patients may not be monitored as regularly as would be hoped and can deteriorate.  

According to previous data from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, one in five patients attending major emergency departments in England were treated on trolleys or chairs in corridors in Summer 2025. More than a third of departments also reported patients being cared for in ambulances waiting outside hospitals.

Such issues with care can have life-changing or even life-ending consequences, as the Royal College of Emergency Medicine estimated that more than 16,600 deaths were associated with long waits for admission in 2024.  

With winter approaching, this dire situation is expected to get worse still. Figures released have shown that 2025 has seen a record number of patients facing 12 hour “trolley” waits in emergency departments. According to statistics, 452,000 people waited for 12 hours or more to be admitted to a ward following visits to A & E in the period between January to October 2025. This is a substantial increase on the same period last year, where the figure was around 418,000.00. 

A report released by the Royal College of Nursing earlier this year stressed that, in some cases, patients are not even able to lie on a trolley whilst waiting for admission to a hospital bed, with some being forced to sit on a chair or at worst lie on the floor for hours. 

It is shocking to see that 24 NHS Trusts have had increases in 12 hour waits in excess of 100,000% since 2016; the worst offender for this is the Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, for whom the percentage increase in 12 hour waits is a mind blowing 1,017,700%. These statistics refer to patients who have been recognised as being so unwell that they require hospital admission but are not getting the care that they need in a timely manner. Such delays are not only degrading to patients but they also place them at risk of deterioration or even death.  

These figures do not even show the full extent of the emergency care crisis, as they only cover delays after the decision to admit has been made; they do not include delays before reaching this decision.  

Dr Ian Higginson, president of the Royal College of Emergency medicine described that A & E departments are at breaking point, particularly with the increased cases of flu that come with winter. He is clear that urgent change is required to emergency care and that patients will die as a result of systematic failures in emergency departments. He says that “hospital trusts must be supported to focus on getting people out of hospital when they are medically fit to do so to free up capacity for the large number of people in need of admission”.  

If you or a loved one have received care in A&E which you consider was not of the standard to which you were entitled to expect and, as a result, have suffered harm, you may be able to bring a claim for clinical negligence. Please contact our experienced Medical Negligence team on 01482 323697 to discuss how we can help.