Britain | The NHS in crisis

How many excess deaths in England are associated with A&E delays?

Around 260 a week between August and November, according to our analysis

Mandatory Credit: Photo by James Veysey/Shutterstock (13694344i)Ambulances outside the Royal London Hospital, as new guidelines are brought in concerning the amount of time patients can stay in ambulances once they arrive at London hospitals.NHS crisis, London, UK - 03 Jan 2023

Jan 11th 2023

The fact that the National Health Service (NHS) is under enormous pressure is undisputed. Almost everything else is debated, including the question of how many patients are dying as a result of the chaos in hospitals. The proportion of patients who wait more than 12 hours in accident-and-emergency (A&E) departments to be admitted to a ward has risen from 2% to 7% over the past year. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), a doctors’ association, has estimated that delays in A&E are leading to 300-500 additional deaths per week. Officials at NHS England do not accept this figure.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Deaths of delay”