NHS Confederation's acute and community care director Rory Deighton has expressed concern over the sharp increase in A&E waiting times across England this year.
An analysis of official data by the Liberal Democrat party has shown a sharp increase in A&E waiting times this year, and it has called for an emergency package of extra hospital and social care beds to protect patients this winter.
Between January and October, a record 452,595 people waited more than 12 hours for a bed in A&E following the decision to admit them into hospital.
This was up 34,000 from the same period last year, and an exponential increase from just 1,590 over the same period in 2016.
The party noted that 35 A&Es have already seen more than 5,000 patients wait more than 12 hours from decision to admit, with 8 trusts seeing more than 10,000 waits of this length.
They want an immediate emergency package this winter: 1,000 extra hospital beds, emergency social care places to free up hospitals, a recruitment and retention drive to increase the number of out-of-hours GPs, and a qualified clinician in every A&E waiting room to protect patients at risk.
Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said, “The appalling delays at A&E are needlessly costing lives as patients are left waiting hours on end for the treatment they need.
“The Government should have used the budget to save the NHS. Instead, they are in total denial, as patients brace themselves for a historic crisis this winter.
“We need a proper plan right now to free up hospital beds, reduce A&E delays and bring the NHS back from the brink.
"That must start with extra staffed beds, and helping people to leave the hospital and into social care.
"Our proposed package would also rebuild GP services so that people can get an appointment within a week, or 24 hours if urgent, and don’t end up in A&E in the first place.”
Responding to this analysis, Deighton said, “This data is extremely worrying, particularly during another very challenging winter for the NHS.
“We know that rising demand and delays in discharge have created bottlenecks in A&Es. With the flu season starting earlier than usual and levels of flu expected to rise sharply over the next week, health service leaders are working incredibly hard and making difficult decisions about how best to manage this, with corridor care only ever used as a last resort.
"Car park care, where patients are waiting in ambulances outside A&E, is also not a solution to this problem.
“Healthcare leaders continue to work on the root causes to ensure improvements by improving patient discharge, working with local authorities to increase social care support, and prioritising vulnerable older patients at the front door through increased frailty screening.
"At the same time, patients should be encouraged to use urgent treatment centres, visit their local community pharmacy, use NHS 111, or see their GP, where appropriate, to free up A&E capacity for those with the most urgent needs."
