Commenting on the latest NHS performance data released today (12 December), Dr Tim Cooksley, immediate past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: “We warned last month of the desperate need for the government to turn its attention to the threat of winter and this data only intensifies the concern among clinicians of the difficulties we face in the coming months.
“Patients continue to experience appalling conditions and prolonged waits for urgent and emergency care – it is an ongoing crisis which remains far from being resolved effectively and it summarises the pressures being seen throughout the system.
“Latest figures show 45,791 patients waited more than 12 hours in emergency departments which is a 7.7% increase on last year – and we are already seeing increasing cases of winter viruses such as Covid, flu, RSV and norovirus.
“Many hospitals will undoubtedly fall into critical incidents and patient safety will be compromised – but the frustration is that this is not unexpected given the long-standing issues with workforce, capacity, stretched community services and a crisis in social care.
“The result is that emergency departments and acute medical units often become bottlenecks, with patients unable to ‘flow’ through hospitals and corridor care becoming a normal occurrence.
“This is dangerous, undignified and a real source of upset for staff as it seriously impacts the ability to care for patients – and the government and senior leader musts realise that urgent and emergency care recovery holds the key to the wider recovery of the NHS.
“We absolutely must urgently see a coherent, co-ordinated approach that focuses on increasing capacity and workforce throughout the system and adequate social care provision – any plans, whether they be short or long term, which fail to have this at the heart will simply fail.
“In the meantime clinicians will, as always, continue to try to deliver high-quality care to those who need it most but the almost impossible situations some hospitals are facing and have contended with for some time will lead to considerable avoidable harm.”