More than four thousand people had to wait twelve hours or more in our city’s A & E department so far this year – according to research by the House of Commons Library.
A project commissioned by the Liberal Democrats whose MP for Bath, Wera Hobhouse, has now called on the Chancellor to “winterproof” local health services at the Budget.
It shows that 5.4% of all attendances at A&Es in Bath include a patient waiting 12 hours or longer.
Between February and September there has been a 8.2% spike in the number of people waiting 12 hours or longer in Bath’s A&Es, compared with the same period last year.
This is a rise of 275, up to 3645 from 3370. It has sparked further fears that the NHS is on course for yet another winter crisis.
Mrs Hobhouse said the figures show the Chancellor needs to “winterproof” local health services at the Budget, warning this is an issue of “life and death” for patients.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has previously estimated that long A&E delays led to around 14,000 excess deaths last year, or 268 a week.
The Liberal Democrats have called on the Chancellor to launch a new fund at the Budget to put an end to the annual winter crises in the health service.
The £1.5 billion ring-fenced fund would be allocated over the next four years, to build resilience in hospital wards, A&E departments, ambulance services and patient discharging. The Party is also calling for a wider funding boost for the NHS in the Budget, including funding to increase the number of GPs, boost the number of NHS dentist appointments and fix crumbling hospitals.
Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, said:
“Getting seen quickly is often a matter of life and death. It is truly horrifying to think that my constituents are having to suffer such dangerously long delays.
“The deplorable legacy that the Conservative Party has left for our NHS drove local services to breaking point. Our NHS has suffered winter crisis after winter crisis, with patients left in hospital corridors, unable to get a bed due to the Conservatives’ shameful neglect.
“It is now down to the new government to fix the mess their predecessors left, so that people here in Bath can rest assured that they will be able to receive timely care.
“That must start at the Budget with the Chancellor taking urgent steps to winterproof our local health services and ensure this is the last winter crisis any of us in Bath have to endure.”
The data from the House of Commons Library can be found here. Original source: NHS England A&E Attendances (ECDS supplementary data). The data measures the amount of time patients spend in A&E after arriving before being admitted, transferred or discharged.
The data shows a comparison of the number of 12 hour waits between February 2023 and September 2023 and the number of 12 hour waits through the same period this year. Data started being recorded for 12 hour waits in February 2023 so it is not possible to compare January’s figures this year to last year’s. In Tab 1 there is data on the number of 12 hour waits through January 2024 to September 2024.
