Worst month on record for A&E departments

EMERGENCY MEDICS CALL FOR URGENT ACTION AFTER RECORD WAITS TO BE SEEN AND TREATED IN WALES

- By OWEN HUGHES Chief Reporter [e-mail]

THE Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) is calling for action after new performance figures for Wales in January show Emergency Departments had their worst month on record.

They said performance reached record lows across the board with the highest proportion of patients ever waiting for more than four, eight and 12 hours to be seen, treated and discharged.

It was also the worst ever January in terms of the number of people waiting.

‘The College warned this highlights the urgent need to prevent the increase in patient stress and delay in care.

‘The new statistics show that nearly half (49.3%) of patients in the EDs waited for four hours or longer, and one in six (17.5%) waited for 12 hours or longer.

RCEM said: “Statistics show that 11,367 people waited for 12 hours or longer, nearly four times (a 278% increase) the figure for the same month 10 years ago (3,006 people). Yet attendances have increased by just 11% in the same period.”

Welsh Government said it has allocated extra funding this year to each health board to help better manage more people in the community, and through same-day emergency care services to help reduce pressure on departments.