One in ten patients face ‘deeply worrying’ wait for hospital bed

Research by the BBC has shown that almost 475,000 patients faced a wait of over four hours for a hospital bed following emergency admissions in 2015-16, which was nearly a five-fold increase since 2010-11.

Three quarters of hospitals are reporting a shortage of beds this winter and doctors are complaining that hospitals are now dangerously overcrowded, with some reporting using corridors and side rooms in order to deal with the rising number of “trolley waits”.

Around one in five patients who are admitted to Accident & Emergency units have a condition which is deemed to require admission on to a ward – this list typically includes elderly and frail patients, and those with breathing problems, chest pains and fractures.

Hospital bosses blame “growing demand” on the system and say the crisis was causing “deeply worrying” delays for these patients.

Siva Anandaciva from NHS Providers, an organisation which represents hospitals, said “These figures are deeply worrying. We are heading into winter in a more fragile state than I have seen in the past 10 years or so.

“Even the historically top-performing trusts are being challenged, which shows that this is an issue affecting all parts of health.

“No-one wants to see people waiting in corridors, side rooms and emergency bays when they should be admitted to a hospital bed. These patients are still under the care of doctors and nurses of course, but it is not ideal for them and we know overcrowding leads to worse outcomes.”

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s Dr Chris Moulton, said “Patients who are delayed like this are still being monitored by staff. But we know that the overcrowding we are seeing is dangerous. It leads to worse outcomes for patients – higher infection rates, patients ending up on the wrong wards and generally a negative experience.

“We simply don’t have enough (beds). If you compare us to other European countries, we are really short and the demands being placed on the health service means we are now struggling to cope.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Paralegal, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (karenmotley@chadlaw.co.uk), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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