Analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine estimated that more than 300 people a week died in 2025 after long waits in Britain’s A&E departments, as overcrowding left hundreds of thousands of patients waiting more than 24 hours.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
More than 15,000 people died avoidable deaths in British emergency departments in 2025 after waiting too long for treatment, according to an analysis of official government data by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.
The college estimated that 15,860 avoidable deaths occurred over the year in Accident & Emergency departments, equal to more than 1,300 deaths a month or more than 300 a week. The figure was 10 times higher than a decade earlier, according to the analysis, which attributed the rise to hospital overcrowding and prolonged waits for care.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine said the risk of avoidable death began increasing after a patient had waited five hours in A&E and continued rising with each additional hour.
The scale of the delays was significant. In 2025, 1.74 million patients in British emergency rooms waited at least 12 hours, while 489,000 waited more than 24 hours.
Under National Health Service standards, nearly all patients are supposed to be seen within four hours of arriving at A&E. The last time that standard was achieved nationwide was in 2015.
According to The Times of London, the delays are driven largely by congestion elsewhere in hospitals rather than by emergency departments alone. When hospital wards are full and cannot admit patients from A&E, emergency departments become holding areas for people who need treatment elsewhere. Many patients are left waiting on beds in corridors.
Dr. Ian Higginson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said the figures should prompt urgent action.
He said he questioned “how many more deaths it will take before we see a determined, meaningful plan to tackle this crisis.”
Higginson said overcrowding has left emergency doctors unable to provide care as intended.
“As an emergency doctor, it’s heartbreaking that patients arrive to our emergency departments in their time of need, and we can’t do our jobs properly because we are full,” Higginson said. “To make things worse we are being asked to focus on the least sick patients to try to marginally improve headline statistics, rather than on those who need our services the most.”
The findings add to growing concern over the condition of Britain’s emergency care system, where long waits, crowded wards and delayed admissions have become recurring problems.
The Royal College’s analysis suggests that emergency room delays are no longer only a measure of inconvenience or administrative strain, but a direct threat to patient survival. With nearly half a million patients waiting more than a day for emergency care in 2025, doctors are warning that overcrowding has become a major safety issue across the NHS.
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