Medical employees insufficiency cost 50 lives each day in England
Date
1/14/2025 7:21:05 AM
(MENAFN) In December 2024, long wait times at emergency wards in England led to an estimated 50 excess deaths daily, according to The Times. This crisis has intensified amid a seasonal flu outbreak, with hospitals declaring "critical incidents" due to overwhelming demand. The National health Service (NHS) has struggled with severe staffing shortages, exacerbated by nearly 170,000 workers leaving in 2022 alone.
The newspaper’s report, based on methodology from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, revealed that delayed medical care resulted in approximately 16,000 excess deaths last year. Official data showed that one in eight patients spent over 12 hours in A&E, and waits worsened in 2024 compared to the previous year.
Tim Cooksley from the Society for Acute Medicine described the situation as patients being treated in hospital corridors or ambulances due to a lack of space. Health Secretary Wes Streeting expressed distress over the conditions, promising to tackle the crisis, while Prime Minister Keir Starmer blamed the previous Conservative government for failing to address growing NHS issues, which had been worsening even before the pandemic. Factors such as low pay, burnout, and workplace pressures have caused the NHS to lose staff at alarming rates since 2010.
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