In the Guardian today:

More than 1,300 patients a month in England are dying needlessly due to long A&E waits, a tenfold rise in a decade, figures suggest.

There were more than 300 deaths linked to long waits every week in 2025, up from 30 a week in 2015, according to analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.

The RCEM’s president, Dr Ian Higginson, said he wondered how many more deaths it would take before there was a meaningful plan to tackle the crisis.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/08/more-than-1300-deaths-a-month-in-england-due-to-long-ae-waits-figures-suggest

As far as I can see the RCEM in Scotland have not persuaded the media here that things are just as bad but BBC UK had told a similar story in January this year and we could easily disprove any such suggestion then with two reports.

First, for NHS Scotland on 14 August 2025:

‘Shocking and shameful’: 51,400 older people endured dangerous 12 hour waits in Scotland’s A&Es last year – New analysis from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine reveals record numbers of extreme long waits older patients in 2024.  

Extreme long waits in Emergency Departments across Scotland are a political responsibility that can no longer be ignored as more than 51,400 older patients endured stays of 12 hours or more last year – the worst on record.  New analysis from the Royal College of Emergency (RCEM) reveals in major EDs, one in every eight patients (51,423) aged 60 or over waited more than 12 hours to be transferred, admitted or discharged in 2024.  ¹

Now, for NHS England, published 6 May 2025:

‘An alarming threat to patient safety’ – over a million older patients endured 12-hour waits in England’s A&Es last year – Figures obtained by RCEM via Freedom of Information Act requests, reveal in England’s major EDs last year, a staggering 1,148,666 people aged 60 and over waited more than 12 hours to be transferred, admitted or discharged.²

Regulars here will have done the sums already.

With 10 times the population you might expect NHS England to have 10 times the numbers waiting more than 12 hours in A&E, 514 000, but they had 1 148 666, TWICE as many.

Now that’s a political responsibility that can no longer be ignored.

Sources:

1. https://rcem.ac.uk/news/shocking-waits-in-scotlands-aes-foi-2024
2. https://rcem.ac.uk/news/an-alarming-threat-to-patient-safety-over-a-million-older-patients-endured-12-hour-waits-in-englands-aes-last-year