Last year, a staggering 440,000 people in England were forced to wait more than 12 hours in A&E, according to official figures.
New NHS data revealed that this was an increase of 30,000 on the previous year. By comparison, a decade ago, just 1,200 people waited that long.
Nearly two-thirds of emergency department attendees at England’s worst-performing hospitals also had to wait more than four hours for care in the year to March 2024.
According to health service guidelines, 76 percent of emergency patients must be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours of receiving care.
But overall, only 72 per cent of patients in England were seen within this period, according to the latest NHS data for 2023/24. Full results for each trust can be viewed via our interactive searchable table.
According to health service guidelines, 76 percent of emergency patients must be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours of receiving care.
He It comes after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer He described the £160bn-a-year service as “broken”.
The Prime Minister warned that the need to “reform or die” was needed and he vowed to undertake the “biggest reinvention” of the disorganised system since its birth in the 1940s.
This followed a damning report by Lord Darzi, a pioneering surgeon and former Labour health minister, which concluded the NHS is in a “critical condition”.
According to the latest figures from the health service, Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust recorded the worst four-hour emergency department performance in the country last year.
Almost two-thirds of patients (63 per cent) had to wait too long to be seen at the Trust’s emergency facilities – 55,056 in total.
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was second worst in the country, with 61 per cent of patients seen outside the four-hour target.
This meant that more than 83,000 people had to wait too long.
London’s Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Trust followed the same path, with 58 per cent of patients waiting longer than guidelines suggest.
Both Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust treated 57 per cent of patients outside the prescribed time frame.
By comparison, only three centres met the NHS target of seeing more than three-quarters of patients within four hours.
These were Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (77 per cent), Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (81 per cent) and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (84 per cent).
However, none reached the previous target of 95 percent, which was diluted in March 2023.
NHS England has said the target will rise to 78 per cent. by March 2025.
All trusts identified as underperforming on four-hour A&E waits were contacted for feedback.
The new analysis of NHS data comes as the latest monthly A&E waiting time figures, published earlier this month, showed 2.1 million sick Britons visited emergency services in August.
Of these, 76.3 percent were treated within four hours, meaning the target was met nationwide for the first time since its implementation.
However, before the pandemic, this figure was around 83 percent.
At the moment, Dr Nick Murch, president of the Society of Acute Medicine, said the data “demonstrates the scale of the short-term challenge”.
“The improvement in A&E performance is a testament to the hard work of clinical and operational colleagues who work tirelessly under significant pressure,” he added.
‘However, the strain suggests the challenges this winter will again be extreme – with more than 28,000 patients waiting more than 12 hours in emergency departments during the summer months an indication of what lies ahead.’
This comes as health leaders warned yesterday that repeated claims by the Government that “the NHS is broken” risk “scaring” patients and deterring them from seeking medical care.
Insiders say they understand why the Health Secretary wants the public to know what a “difficult inheritance” Labour has been handed.
This comes after health leaders warned yesterday that the Government’s repeated claims that “the NHS is broken” risked “scaring” patients and deterring them from seeking care. Streeting hit back in her speech to the Labour Party conference, insisting she “will not back down”.
But they fear he has struck the “wrong tone” which is demoralising staff and could cause “lasting damage”.
However, Mr Streeting hit back at the criticism in his speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, insisting he would “not back down”.
He said: ‘I know that sometimes the doctor’s diagnosis can be difficult to hear.
‘But if you don’t have an accurate diagnosis, you won’t be able to provide the right prescription.
“And when you put protecting the reputation of the NHS above protecting patients, you’re not helping the NHS, you’re killing it with kindness.
“I will not give up. The National Health System is broken, but not defeated, and together we will turn the situation around.”
He once again blamed the Conservatives for the “dismal” state of the NHS, highlighting record waiting lists, A&E delays and low patient satisfaction.
But he promised his 10-year plan for NHS reform would create a “world-class” service.