Figures show significant rise in extended waits for emergency care

The number of patients waiting four or more hours at A&E has risen more than 300 percent at some UK hospitals, a report has suggested.

Data highlighted by the Royal College for Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has indicated that overall, 2.2 million patients were not seen by emergency care providers within the four-hour target time in 2015-16 – more than double the one million figure from 2013-14.

Moreover, 1,271 patients faced waits of 12 hours or more, compared to only 260 in 2013-14. These trends are more prevalent at some hospitals than others, with the NHS in England now having fewer hospital beds per capita than Chile, Estonia and Turkey.

Dr Simon Howse, policy research manager at RCEM, told BBC News that there is no evidence to suggest that more people are wrongly attending accident and emergency departments than was the case a decade ago.

He said this is a "large and systemic problem" caused by "hospitals being asked to do something they are not resourced to do".

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