UK | Outrage among industry leaders, as new analysis indicates more than 100,000 seniors waited between one and three days in A&E last year.
Shocking new analysis by Age UK in 2024/25 shows there were more than 100,000 instances of over-65s waiting between one day (24hrs) and three days (72hrs) in A&E after a decision to admit them had been made.
In more than half (54,000) of these cases these older people were aged 80 plus. Data reveals “exponential increase” in the last six years, where in 2018/19, people aged 65 plus experienced a wait of between one and three days in A&E only 1,346 times.
“Every joint was aching. It was excruciating, and I could barely move. They told me there were no beds, no trolleys, nothing. I was left in the reception area all night with no treatment and no one checking on me. I ended up lying on the floor. Someone gave me a coat to put under my head. I’d been awake for three nights by then. It was horrendous,” said David, a 77-year-old, who spent around 30 hours in A&E.
Sadly, Age UK has already established that if an older person who comes into A&E today, there is a considerable risk that they may face a wait of 12 hours or longer before a decision to admit them results in them actually moving to a hospital bed on a ward. The data also showed that older people are the population group most likely to experience long waits and so-called Corridor Care.
Now, shockingly, new analysis of NHS England data obtained by Age UK through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has found that for horrifying numbers of older people the situation is even worse than we thought: in 2024/25, the most recent year for which figures are available, there were 101,972 instances of people aged 65 plus enduring waits of between one and three days in A&E after a decision to admit them had been made.
The Charity is hugely concerned that in more than half of these cases, the older people affected were aged 80 plus (53 percent or 53,870).
A review of the trends over time demonstrates that this phenomenon of older people having to wait for between one and three days for a hospital bed on a ward has exploded beyond all recognition in the last few years, growing from virtually nothing to a major problem now. Age UK has witnessed an exponential increase over six years that shames our society and the NHS and that in Age UK’s view, demands a more urgent Government response than appears currently to be being offered.
Age UK’s FOI request related to attendances at type 1 Emergency Departments in England. The data provided by NHS England grouped all waits between one and three days into a single category. NHS England has said that any waits recorded above three days are likely to be the result of data quality issues and are only included as part of the total number of attendances. However, Age UK and other organisations working in this policy area have heard accounts of people waiting even longer than three days, and, in a few cases, up to a week.
In considering the disastrous impact on very sick older people of having to endure a lengthy period waiting for a hospital bed, often in discomfort on a corridor or in another inappropriate space, it is also important to recognise that some will also have experienced other delays waiting for an ambulance, and in going through the triage process once they have arrived in A&E.
More news here.
