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‘How Many Deaths Will It Take Before We See A Meaningful Plan To End The Crisis?’

Deaths associated with long ED waits surge almost tenfold over a decade

Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay

The estimated number of deaths linked to long waits in Emergency Departments across England has surged almost tenfold over the past decade.

That’s according to new analysis published today (8 June 2026) in the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s (RCEM) ‘State of Emergency Medicine in England’ report, which suggests that there were 15,860 excess deaths associated with long waiting times in 2025.

That’s the lives of 305 people lost every week.

While the number of deaths is slightly lower than 2024 (16,644), further analysis reveals that the estimated mortality figure increased almost tenfold when compared to 2015 (1,657). It is important to note that this is a conservative estimate.

RCEM’s report examines the scale of overcrowding in EDs and the impact this is having on patient safety and staff. Drawing on national data, research and frontline evidence from clinicians, it highlights how long waits, high bed occupancy and a lack of patient flow continue to lead to overcrowded emergency departments. Long waits are closely linked to an increased chance of death within the following 30 days.

Further analysis for the previous year concerningly reveals nearly half a million people (489,138) waited 24 hours or more in EDs across England. This has increased by around 150,000 patients in just 3 years.

Each year, as this analysis is completed, it leads me to question how many more deaths it will take before we see a determined, meaningful plan to tackle this crisis.

We have to ask why this awful problem isn’t the subject of relentless focus and political conversation. The number of deaths linked to long stays in our Emergency Departments explicitly show the system is failing the patients it is meant to be caring for. It’s shocking.

While there has been a slight reduction in deaths compared to 2024, it’s not good enough that yet again thousands of people lost their lives last year.

These were patients who were stuck in Emergency Departments waiting for an inpatient bed to become available for them. They needed further hospital care, or alternatives which weren’t available. These are some of the sickest people who come through our doors.

It’s the inability to move patients out of our departments which is causing the overcrowded EDs linked to excess deaths.

As an emergency doctor, it’s heartbreaking that patients arrive to our EDs in their time of need, and we can’t do our jobs properly because we are full. To make things worse we are being asked to focus on the least sick patients to try and marginally improve headline statistics, rather than on those who need our services the most.

It’s frustrating that we continue to see a lack of solutions designed to tackle the root causes of the problem at the ‘back door’ of our hospitals. Instead, we are fobbed off with recycled ideas that haven’t ever worked, performance data that doesn’t reflect reality, and a focus on perceived ‘quick fixes’.

Whilst we welcome the government’s stated commitment to eliminate corridor care, until we prioritise patients who experience long waits for admission, we will not get to the bottom of the whole issue.

The systemic issues affecting A&Es are fixable, but the solutions lie outside the walls of our departments. It will require determined leadership, cultural change and strategic investment in our health and social care workforce and systems. Our report outlines the necessary steps that the government must take to address these issues.

If they don’t, EDs in England will remain in a constant state of distress, and patients will continue to die unnecessarily.

Responding, Dr Ian Higginson, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine

Here is a video clip of RCEM President Dr Ian Higginson speaking about the report.

RCEM calls on the government to:
Eradicate mortality associated with long ED waits by the end of this decade.

Adhere to the four-hour waiting time standard

Follow through on a commitment to ending corridor care by the end of this parliament

Ensure new NHS policies do not increase pressure on ED without demonstrable improvements having been made to hospital flow

Prioritise the adoption of a whole-system approach for performance

Designate hospital bed occupancy as a system-wide metric for hospital flow

The full detail of recommendations can be found in the report.

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