New NHS record as patients wait 12 hours to get into A&E

As reported by The Independent, these figures come amid what health leaders warn is toughest ever winter for NHS

Ambulance response times and A&E waits are the worst on record, new figures show.

The figures for England showed a record 54,532 people waited more than 12 hours in A&E departments last month, from a decision to admit to actually being admitted. That is a 44% increase from 37,837 in November, and the highest total since records began in August 2010.

It follows an exclusive report by The Independent on Wednesday that the number of patients waiting more than 12 hours in A&E for treatment had exceeded 50,000 a week for the first time.

The NHS England figures show the average response time in December for ambulances dealing with the most urgent incidents, defined as calls from people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries, was 10 minutes and 57 seconds. This is also the worst performance on record, against a target of seven minutes.

It comes as health leaders battle huge waits in other services such as operations and diagnostics, which have been exacerbated by the Covid pandemic. Medics have also had to deal with a spike in flu and Covid cases and a shortage of beds in hospitals.

The health service has also been hit by a wave of strike action lately, with ambulance staff and 999 call handlers walking out on Wednesday in a row over pay and conditions. Strikes by NHS workers started in December last year.

Nurses have also taken industrial action and are due to walk out again on 18 and 19 January after negotiations on salaries earlier in the weekend ended without agreement.

The operational standard is that at least 95% of patients attending A&E should be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, but this has not been met nationally since 2015.

Meanwhile, the number of patients waiting more than 52 weeks to start hospital treatment has fallen to 406,575, new figures show.

This was down slightly from the record high of 410,983  recorded at the end of October. It is the first month-on-month fall since February 2022, officials said.

The government and NHS England have set the ambition of eliminating all waits of more than a year by March 2025.