A&E crisis: Nearly 1,000 deaths in Wales linked to 12-hour waits as calls grow for urgent action

New figures from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine reveal 965 deaths in 2025 were associated with long emergency department waits — an average of 18 people every week.

The total is up on the previous year, with doctors warning the scale of the crisis should send “shockwaves” through the political system.

“A matter of life and death”

Emergency medicine experts say the situation inside A&E departments has become critical.

Dr Rob Perry said many of those affected were among the most vulnerable patients — people already in need of urgent hospital care.

“Any number of avoidable deaths is a tragedy — that there were almost a thousand last year should send shockwaves,” he said.

“This is a matter of life and death.”

The report points to overcrowded hospitals, high bed occupancy and delays discharging patients as key drivers — leaving emergency departments gridlocked.t door” of emergency departments, but at the “back door” — where patients cannot be moved into wards quickly enough.

How delays are linked to deaths

The analysis suggests one death occurs for every 72 patients forced to wait 12 hours or more before being admitted.

Experts say tackling patient flow through hospitals — not just demand at the front door — is key to preventing further loss of life.

The College is now calling on all parties to commit to ending deaths associated with long waits by 2030.

Government: “Real progress” on waiting lists

The stark findings come just days after the Welsh Government published its latest NHS performance figures — highlighting improvements elsewhere in the system.

According to ministers:

• The average waiting time for treatment has fallen to around 18 weeks
• Waiting lists have dropped for eight months in a row
• January saw a record monthly fall of 27,900 patients

Health Secretary Jeremy Miles said the figures showed “real, tangible progress”.

“Health boards are delivering more appointments and more operations… making sure people are seen and treated faster,” he said.

How delays are costing lives

The analysis uses a recognised measure suggesting one death occurs for every 72 patients forced to wait 12 hours or more.

That equates to hundreds of potentially avoidable deaths each year.

The College is now calling on all political parties to commit to ending deaths linked to long A&E waits by 2030, warning that failure to act will lead to more lives lost.

More operations — but pressure remains

The Welsh Government says the improvements have been driven by:

• 187,000 extra outpatient appointments
• A record 37,000 cataract operations
• Additional £120 million funding

There have also been improvements in ambulance response times and hospital handovers.

But ministers acknowledge winter pressures remain high, with A&E departments recording one of their busiest periods on record.

Political pressure ramps up

The figures have prompted renewed criticism from the Welsh Conservatives.

Shadow Health Secretary Peter Fox said urgent action is needed.

“Every patient deserves timely care and no one should have to wait 12 hours or more,” he said.

“This data underlines the urgent need for strong, effective action.”

He reiterated calls to declare a health emergency to bring down waiting times and end corridor care.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS put the blame firmly at an overstretched social care system.

“These figures are a national scandal. Nearly a thousand people dying after waiting over 12 hours in A&E reflects a system that is fundamentally broken and causing avoidable deaths. 

“For too long, the focus has been on the front door of hospitals, when the real crisis is at the back door. Patients cannot be discharged because social care is overstretched, beds remain blocked, and A&E departments become dangerously overcrowded.

“If we are serious about ending these avoidable deaths, the next Welsh Government must properly fund social care and take a whole-system approach to fixing patient flow and funding social care properly will be a red line in any negotiations we hold with other parties.”

Two pictures of the NHS

Together, the figures paint a complex picture of the Welsh NHS.

On one hand, waiting lists are falling and more patients are being treated.

On the other, emergency departments remain under severe pressure, with long waits continuing to be linked to hundreds of deaths each year.

With a Senedd election approaching, the challenge for politicians is clear — turning progress on paper into safer care on the frontline.

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‘Cooking the books’: Ombudsman slams ‘systemic failure’ at health board over latest knee surgery scandal

The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales has delivered a damning verdict, branding the case part of a systemic failure in the way the Health Board manages its waiting lists. It comes less than two years after three earlier public interest reports exposed similar blunders in orthopaedic care, and just months after an independent review of maternity and neonatal services found repeated failings and forced Welsh Government intervention

Together, the scandals paint a picture of a Health Board struggling to maintain basic standards across critical services, with watchdogs warning that Swansea Bay has failed to learn from past mistakes.

Patient’s fury: “Cooking the books”

The man, known only as Mr W, told investigators he believed the Health Board was “cooking the books” when he discovered his waiting time clock had been reset without his knowledge. He had already been waiting more than 276 weeks — over five years — yet officials claimed his wait was just 60 weeks.

The Ombudsman agreed the reset was inappropriate and amounted to maladministration, saying it robbed Mr W of the chance to undergo surgery. By the time the error was uncovered, he was no longer fit to proceed.

A catalogue of errors

The investigation found no clinician had ever documented Mr W as medically unfit when his clock was reset in October 2023. Instead, he was sent for further tests, which later confirmed he was fit to go ahead. Yet the reset had already been applied, wiping years off his waiting time.

The Health Board admitted an “administrative error” in how the reset was recorded, and conceded Mr W was never told about the change. What shocked the Ombudsman further was that Swansea Bay had already been ordered to audit its waiting lists after the earlier scandals. That audit was supposed to catch mistakes like this, but it failed — raising serious doubts about whether other patients have also been short‑changed.

Health Board forced into public apology

Chief Executive Abigail Harris has now been forced to issue a public apology after the Ombudsman’s report exposed the blunders. In a statement, she said:

“The Health Board would like to publicly apologise for the failings identified and for the distress that this caused to the patient. We fully accept the Ombudsman’s recommendations and will implement them within the prescribed timescales.”

The Ombudsman’s recommendations go far beyond a simple apology. Swansea Bay must retrain staff on the rules for managing waiting lists, making sure cases like Mr W’s are handled properly in future. An independent re‑audit of orthopaedic waiting lists will now be commissioned to check if other patients have been treated unfairly, and if so, they too must be apologised to and have their records corrected. The Board itself has been told to take direct oversight, with a committee monitoring compliance to ensure these failures are not repeated.

A scandal with wider echoes

For Mr W, the apology comes too late. His five‑year wait has ended not with surgery, but with the door slammed shut. And his words — accusing the Health Board of “cooking the books” — will now echo far beyond his own case, raising fresh fears for thousands of other patients across Swansea Bay.

With maternity services already under special measures after repeated failings, and orthopaedics now branded a “systemic failure,” the Health Board faces mounting pressure to prove it can finally fix a broken system.

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#administrativeError #featured #hospitalWaitingList #kneeReplacementSurgery #NHSWaitingList #orthopaedicCare #orthopaedics #PublicServicesOmbudsmanForWales #SwanseaBayNHS #SwanseaBayUniversityHealthBoard #WaitingLists

NHS waiting lists still high – but Swansea Bay and Hywel Dda avoid worst delays

The latest figures show just under 793,100 patient pathways in July – the equivalent of more than 600,000 people waiting for treatment. That’s a slight fall compared with June, but the number of people waiting more than two years rose again to just over 8,000.

In Swansea Bay University Health Board, which covers Swansea and Neath Port Talbot, no patients are waiting more than two years for treatment or more than a year for a first outpatient appointment. In Hywel Dda University Health Board, covering Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion, fewer than 1% of patients are waiting that long.

By contrast, other parts of Wales still have significant backlogs.

What the numbers show

• Around 56.6% of patients were waiting less than 26 weeks in July – a small improvement.
• About 265,700 people had been waiting more than 36 weeks (nine months). That’s roughly one in three of everyone on the list.
• Nearly 73,200 people were waiting more than a year for a first outpatient appointment – up slightly on June, but still well below the peak in 2022.
• The number waiting more than two years is 88% lower than the peak in March 2022, but has crept up again in recent months.

Political row over figures

The publication of the statistics has sparked a row after the Welsh Government began releasing provisional data a month earlier than the official figures, which normally have a seven‑week lag.

Opposition parties say the change is designed to make Labour look better ahead of next May’s Senedd election. Welsh Conservative health spokesman James Evans MS said:

“These figures represent yet another abysmal failure by the Welsh Labour Government, the longest waits are rising and progress is being lost yet again.”

Andrew RT Davies MS, former leader of the Welsh Conservatives, added:

“Patients across Wales will be deeply frustrated by the evaporation of progress on the longest waits in our NHS.”

Plaid Cymru’s health spokesman Mabon ap Gwynfor called the change in reporting:

“a clear attempt to manipulate the figures by Labour in the hope that they will look better immediately before an election.”

The Welsh Government denies this, saying there is “considerable public interest” in more timely data and that the move has been welcomed by the UK’s official statistics watchdog.

Government response

Welsh Health Secretary Jeremy Miles pointed to signs of improvement, highlighting that more people than ever are starting cancer treatment and that long waits are far below their peak.

He said:

“This month, 15,000 extra outpatient appointments are being provided across Wales which shows how we are increasing activity all over the country to ensure people are being seen quicker. I remain confident we will see a significant reduction in long waits by the end of the second quarter.”

Emergency and cancer care

The wider NHS remains under pressure:

• In August, just 65.4% of patients were seen within four hours in A&E, well below the 95% target. More than 10,400 people waited over 12 hours.
• Ambulance response times for the most urgent “purple” calls averaged 7 minutes 15 seconds, within target, but “red” emergencies averaged 9 minutes 15 seconds, outside the target.
• In July, 2,301 people started cancer treatment – the highest figure on record. But only 61% began treatment within the 62‑day target, short of the 75% benchmark.

What it means for our area

For people in Swansea Bay and Hywel Dda, the picture is mixed. The longest waits have been cleared or kept to a minimum, but thousands are still waiting months for treatment.

While politicians argue over targets and statistics, patients like those in Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire continue to face delays that can mean living with pain or uncertainty. One retired teacher from Ystalyfera told the BBC he paid £7,500 for a hip replacement in Lithuania after being told he faced a three‑year wait on the NHS.

#AndrewRTDaviesMS #HywelDdaNHS #JamesEvansMS #JeremyMilesMS #MabonApGwynfor #NHSWaitingList #NHSWales #patientPathways #SwanseaBayNHS #WelshGovernment

Welsh NHS waiting lists rise again — but ambulance handover times show marked improvement

The number of people waiting more than two years for NHS treatment in Wales has risen again, reaching 10,300 pathways in May — up 6.5% from the previous month. The overall waiting list now stands at 796,100 pathways, equivalent to nearly one in four people in Wales.

The figures have prompted criticism from opposition parties, with Welsh Conservatives accusing the Labour-led government of failing to meet its own targets. Shadow Health Secretary James Evans MS said the latest data “proves Labour’s health strategy is failing” and called for a health emergency to be declared to focus resources on reducing excessive waits.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS also condemned the figures, describing them as “a damning indictment of 25 years of Labour mismanagement in Wales.”

“These are not just numbers on a spreadsheet, they are real people left to suffer in pain, anxiety and fear. The Welsh Liberal Democrats are clear, we won’t solve the crisis in our NHS without first addressing the crisis in social care. That means ending bed blocking and also investing properly in primary care and GP services, ensuring illness is caught and treated early, not when it becomes an emergency.”

Ambulance handover times improve at Morriston and Royal Glamorgan hospitals

Despite the rise in long waits, the Welsh Government has pointed to significant improvements in ambulance patient handover times, particularly at Morriston Hospital in Swansea, where delays fell by 70% in June compared to May. At Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant, handover times dropped by 87%, with nearly three-quarters of patients transferred within 15 minutes.

Health Secretary Jeremy Miles, who visited Royal Glamorgan on Thursday, said the figures show that “our focus on improving ambulance patient handover performance is working,” and praised staff for their efforts.

A national taskforce has been established to tackle handover delays across Wales, aiming to free up ambulance crews and improve emergency department flow. The Welsh Ambulance Service also introduced a new purple category for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests on 1 July, alongside revised triage categories for other urgent conditions.

Cancer treatment and emergency care pressures

In May, more than 1,900 people started cancer treatment, and over 14,200 were told they did not have cancer, as performance against the 62-day target improved to 61.3%. However, emergency departments remain under pressure, with June recording the third-highest daily attendances on record. More than 10,000 patients waited over 12 hours in A&E — still far from meeting government targets.

Miles acknowledged the setback in long waits but said they are now 85% lower than the peak, and expressed confidence that the next set of figures will show renewed progress.

Local health board variation

According to Welsh Government data, Swansea Bay and Powys health boards currently have no pathways waiting longer than two years, while Hywel Dda and Aneurin Bevan each have fewer than 300 such cases. In contrast, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board continues to report the highest number of long waits in Wales.

#AE #AccidentAndEmergency #ambulance #ambulanceWaitingTime #healthEmergency #hospitalWaitingList #HywelDdaNHS #JamesEvansMS #Llantrisant #MorristonHospital #NHS #NHSWaitingList #RoyalGlamorganHospital #SwanseaBayNHS #waitingList #WelshAmbulanceServiceTrust #WelshConservatives #WelshGovernment

Lib Dem health spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “Rishi Sunak promised to cut waiting lists when he made his pledge, instead he cut spending on the NHS. “Now one year on, millions are left waiting in pain for the treatment they need and the number has only grown over the last year.

#NHSwaitinglist
#libdems

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/amp/entry/nhs-waiting-have-soared-by-400000-since-rishi-sunak-pledged-to-cut-them_uk_659fb0ebe4b0712b12c3ab92/

Of course!

None of #RishiSunak 's "five promises" were addressed in the King's Speech. So, it's no surprise he's backing away from this #NHSWaitingList promise too. It was always unfounded and unfunded #ToryDeclaratoryPolitics

#GeneralElectionNow

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/nov/12/rishi-sunak-waiting-list-pledge-downgraded-nhs-control-costs