The RCEM said the NHS is now in a state of permacrisis (Image: Getty)
Patients are dying needlessly every week and the NHS is “simply not ready for winter”, A&E leaders have warned. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine delivered a damning assessment of the health service’s preparedness for the coming months. Its president Dr Ian Higginson described the situation as “a disgraceful state of affairs”, adding: “I cannot believe it has been allowed to get this bad.
“Patients are dying unnecessarily every week whilst politicians continue to focus on the wrong solutions.” A survey of 163 doctors leading A&E departments across the UK found 91% were “very” or “extremely” concerned about the pressure their departments will experience this winter.
Just 3% said they were “well prepared” for the colder months, when rising cases of flu and other respiratory viruses are expected to cause a surge in demand. Two-thirds of medics surveyed said their emergency department was unsafe.
Dr Higginson added: “Overcrowding, corridor care, the impending surge of demand from winter, and lack of meaningful preparations, are creating perfect conditions for a terrible winter. Colleagues from across the four nations have been crystal clear: we are not managing now and we simply are not ready for winter.
“We have patients scattered all over our departments, many stuck in trolleys or on chairs for hours upon hours. The sickest and most injured among them can’t get into a hospital bed and end up staying with us, sometimes for days.”
Thousands of patients are left in corridors every day (Image: Getty)
Dr Vicky Price, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, backed the warning. She said: “The concerns raised by A&E doctors are shared by those of us working in acute medicine, but describing the pressures facing the NHS this winter as a ‘perfect storm’ risks suggesting they are unexpected or unavoidable.
“We are not heading into a winter crisis. We are carrying an existing healthcare crisis into winter. The reality is that these problems have been building for years.
“An ageing population with increasingly complex health needs, shortages in community and social care, and hospitals operating at high occupancy mean patients are struggling to move through the system. None of this should come as a surprise.”
The latest NHS England data shows an average of 3,310 patients received care in corridors and other inappropriate spaces each day in September, including 2,549 in A&E departments.
Dr Price added: “If corridor care is part of the NHS winter plan, the plan has already failed.” Of the 119 responses gathered from A&E clinical leads in England, almost nine in 10 (89%) described pressure at the moment as high or very high.
NHS medical director Dr Frankie Swords warned earlier this month that the health service was seeing the highest number of flu admissions that “I can remember seeing at this time of year”.
She added: “It’s coincided with the start of the expected increase in Covid cases. This is coming on the back of the busiest summer we have ever had in our emergency departments. We have got very, very busy hospitals, so slightly ominous early signs of winter pressure.”
The number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E departments in England from a decision to admit to actually being admitted stood at 50,582 in September, up from 44,951 in August.
Analysis by the RCEM suggests there were almost 16,000 excess deaths linked to long A&E waiting times in England in 2025 — more than 300 every week.
Health Secretary Yvette Cooper announced almost £140million for 14 new urgent care schemes across England at the weekend to help the NHS prepare for a challenging season.
She said the money would pay for new urgent treatment centres, same day emergency care services, emergency department upgrades and new ambulance fleets.
Ms Cooper added: “Winter will be more challenging for our NHS this year, after such a heavy summer. That’s why we have been preparing early and investing in extra urgent care capacity to help get patients the care they need.”
The RCEM welcomed the investment but said cash was “not being spent in the right places”. It is calling for better staffed departments, for hospitals and systems to work effectively seven days a week with bolstered bed capacity, and for investment to enable patients to be discharged quickly.
Dr Higginson said: “With year-round pressure hitting departments, the vast majority of us have no spare capacity to help deal with the cold months.
“It was not always this way. Less than a decade ago, the annual NHS ‘winter crisis’ was declared when waiting times and overcrowding reached a fraction of what we now experience throughout the year.
“We’ve now got to the point where we can’t tell where one crisis ends and the next begins.” The RCEM has written directly to Ms Yvette Cooper to express its concerns and make recommendations.
Dr Higginson urged governments across the UK to “act now”. He added: “Existing winter preparations represent the same old same old, and will yield the same disastrous results. Our clinical leads agree.
“Knowing that, it beggars belief that we are going into winter with nearly a thousand fewer beds than last year, and with recruitment freezes stopping us recruiting doctors and nurses to help reduce risk for our patients or to get hospitals working.”
Dr Price added: “We cannot keep treating predictable pressures as unexpected emergencies. What is needed is sufficient staffed hospital capacity, effective discharge pathways and properly supported community and social care services to keep patients moving safely through the system.
Experts have urged people who are eligible to get the flu jab (Image: Getty)
“Patients deserve better than another winter of unacceptable waits and care in corridors.” A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said winter “will be more challenging for the NHS this year, after a summer of record pressures”.
They added: “That’s why we have been preparing for those challenges for months, including opening 25 new and upgraded urgent and emergency care units in time for winter, helping more patients get the right care and easing pressure on busy services.
“The Secretary of State has also tasked the NHS with accelerating plans to end corridor care, particularly for children, and for the first winter ever the NHS is publishing corridor care data to shine a light on where pressures are greatest and drive action where it is needed most.
“On top of this, we are expanding access to the flu vaccine and improving GP access through evening, weekend and out-of-hours appointments to reduce pressure on A&Es.”
An NHS spokesperson said: “There is no doubt this winter is going to be tough, with flu cases in hospital already higher than normal following the busiest summer on record for the NHS, leaving staff with little respite.
“But our winter planning is stronger than ever, with all trust plans completed and stress-tested by the end of September and flu vaccination bookings opened earliest ever, and we urge everyone eligible for a flu or other winter vaccination to get vaccinated as soon as possible to protect themselves and their loved ones this winter.”
