The government has been urged to get a grip on long A&E waits with campaigners saying it is the rot eating away at the heart of the NHS.<\/p>\n
The plea by Age UK comes as it publishes a report detailing \u00ab\u00a0heartbreaking\u00a0\u00bb stories of how older people are suffering, spending hours in corridors and side-rooms.<\/p>\n
It highlights cases of people being left in their own excrement, having blood transfusions and even dying in these make-shift treatment areas.<\/p>\n
And it said older people were much more likely to experience long waits, with data showing one in three over 90s attending A&E in England last year faced a 12-hour wait or more.<\/p>\n
The government said the situation was unacceptable, but added it was taking action.<\/p>\n
The Age UK report said while 12-hour waits were once virtually unheard of, they had now become the norm in too many places.<\/p>\n
It highlighted the case of an 86-year-old who was left in a disused corridor for 36 hours.<\/p>\n
Another man, who had soiled himself, was left in his own excrement for 20 hours, while others suffered the indignity of having to use bedpans in corridors.<\/p>\n
Susan, 79, from south London, is one of those who has experienced a long wait, according to the Age UK report.<\/p>\n
She said it took 22 hours for a bed to be found for her after she arrived at hospital having had a heart attack.<\/p>\n
She spent a large part of her wait on a couch in a curtained-off area near A&E where there was no privacy. She believes she heard two people dying on couches nearby.<\/p>\n
Regarding one of the deaths, she said: \u00ab\u00a0I was next to a man who was clearly unwell. He was alone for some time, then his wife was brought in. They whispered as they had little privacy. Then, after a long silence, she was led away, crying. I’m certain he died. And he died right next to me.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
The report pointed to data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from NHS England which showed there were more than 1.7 million 12-hour waits in 2024-25 at major hospitals \u2013 around one in 10 of those who attended A&Es.<\/p>\n
Two thirds of them were experienced by people aged over 60.<\/p>\n
The report said as well as being horrible, long waits were risky.<\/p>\n
Age UK director Caroline Abrahams said it was a \u00ab\u00a0crisis hiding in plain sight\u00a0\u00bb and that the government should take immediate action.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0No-one should have to spend their final days in a hospital corridor where it’s impossible for staff to provide good, compassionate care.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0As we head into winter, we fear that an already difficult situation will get worse.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Long waits are like a rot eating away at the heart of the NHS, undermining public trust.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Age UK said a major cause of the problem was the lack of available support in the community, which meant hospitals could not discharge patients who are medically-fit to leave wards. That results in a shortage of beds available for new patients.<\/p>\n
It called for a renewed effort and drive to tackle this.<\/p>\n
RCN general secretary Prof Nicola Ranger said the problems were a \u00ab\u00a0moral stain\u00a0\u00bb on the health service.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0No elderly or vulnerable person should be forced to endure these conditions.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Overstretched and understaffed nursing teams work hard every day to deliver the best care, but they face an impossible task.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Health minister Karin Smyth said: \u00ab\u00a0No one should receive care in a corridor – it’s unacceptable, undignified and we are determined to end it.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
She said the government was investing more money in the NHS and detailed data on corridor care would soon be published to hold the system to account.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0To tackle a problem you’ve got to be honest about it,\u00a0\u00bb she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The government has been urged to get a grip on long A&E waits with campaigners saying it is the rot eating away at the heart of the NHS. The plea by Age UK comes as it publishes a report detailing \u00ab\u00a0heartbreaking\u00a0\u00bb stories of how older people are suffering, spending hours in corridors and side-rooms. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}