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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Jane Kirby

SHOCKING: Corridor care crisis an alarming threat to patient safety - What They Never Told You

  • More than a million elderly people in England (aged 60+) waited 12 hours or more in A&E in 2024, a significant increase from previous years.
  • The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) is warning that these long waits, often spent on trolleys in corridors, pose an “alarming threat to patient safety”.
  • A correlation exists between age and wait times: the older the patient, the longer the wait, with those over 90 having a 33 per cent chance of a 12-hour wait.
  • An RCEM report also revealed that many elderly patients miss crucial screenings for delirium, fall risk, and general frailty while waiting in A&E.
  • The RCEM is calling for systemic changes, including "front door frailty screening", in every A&E.

IN FULL

Oldest patients facing longest waits in A&E as doctors say system is ‘failing our most vulnerable’

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