The NHS is battling record numbers of patients facing 12-hour waits in A&E for a hospital bed, according to the latest figures. It comes after the decision to admit them to a ward, meaning they will already have likely waited for an ambulance and then while being assessed when they arrived at A&E.
The latest monthly performance figures published by NHS England for April 2022 reveal that 24,138 patients who attended major emergency departments were delayed for 12 hours or more from the decision to admit to getting a bed on a ward. This is the highest number of 12-hour waits on record for England, and is a seven per cent increase in 12-hour waits compared to the previous month, March 2022, which also saw a record high.
The shocking figures also show that the 79,606 12-hour waits from the decision to admit recorded so far in 2022 is just 3,250 fewer than the total recorded between August 2010 and December 2021 - which stands at 82,856.
