A&E Overcrowding Linked to Hundreds of Deaths a Week
A study of more than 19,000 patients across 134 emergency departments — about seven in ten in England, Wales and Northern Ireland — found that every 10% rise in occupancy raised a patient’s chance of dying within 28 days by 1%. The departments were running at 175% occupancy on average. Researchers put the toll at roughly 550 deaths a week, though the plausible range runs from 33 to 1,083. Treatment in corridors carried a similar increase in risk.
The headline number deserves its caveat — a range from 33 to 1,083 is very wide, and the study shows association rather than proven cause. What is not in doubt is the occupancy figure: departments designed for a full house were running at nearly twice it. Dr Ryan McHenry of the University of Glasgow reported that crowding “is associated with increased mortality for patients admitted to hospital”, and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s president Dr Ian Higginson put the political charge plainly: “People are dying in association with overcrowding in emergency departments. This should be cause for alarm among policymakers, and yet we are not seeing any urgency.” The department’s reply was that three-quarters of patients were seen within four hours in August. Watch whether this reaches the conference floor in Liverpool.