A shocking one in three patients seeking emergency care at some UK hospitals can expect to wait at least 12-hours for vital treatment, a MailOnline analysis has revealed.
The worst offender is Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where just under a third of urgent care patients across its hospitals waited for 12 hours or more last month.
Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust came second with 26.6 per cent of patients facing extreme delays, followed by the Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, where the figure stands at 25 per cent.
The best performing trust was Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, where just 0.4 per cent of patients wait longer than 12-hours to see a healthcare professional.
This was followed by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London — 1.7 per cent of patients — and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, where the proportion is 2.1 per cent.
MailOnline conducted an in-depth analysis of the most recent NHS A&E waiting times data, and found the true figure for the number of patients facing excruciating delays could be three times the health service’s estimate.
According to a recently released NHS report, almost 520,000 patients endured delays exceeding 12-hours throughout 2024.
But our investigation found this number drastically underplayed the shocking reality of the casualty crisis, as the real estimation is likely to be closer to 1.75million.
That’s because NHS analyses only measure so-called ‘trolley waits’ – the time between a medic deciding a patient needs to be admitted to hospital, and when they are given a bed.
MailOnline can now reveal how long patients can expect to wait from the time they arrive at A&E, to the time healthcare professionals decide the best course of treatment.
Our exclusive tool uses this data to enable you to see the proportion of patients who wait for at least 12-hour waits are at your local A&E.
Our analysis follows a harrowing report by NHS nurses that warned staff are so overstretched that dead patients are lying undiscovered for hours in A&E.
Frontline nurses said a severe shortage of beds meant sick Brits are left in ‘animal-like’ conditions, stranded in hospital car parks, cupboards and toilets.
The report, which was based on a survey of NHS nursing staff, found 67 per cent are delivering care daily in overcrowded or unsuitable places.
Some 91 per cent said the care had been unsafe.
Some said they had cared for as many as 40 patients in a single corridor – some blocking fire exits or parked next to vending machines.
One nurse specifically recalled how she ‘broke’ after seeing the lack of care a 90-year-old woman with dementia was subjected to.
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which describes its A&E at Blackpool Victoria Hospital as ‘one of the busiest in the country’ had the highest proportion of patients suffering 12-hour waits in the country
‘Seeing that lady, frightened and subjected to animal-like conditions is what broke me. At the end of that shift, I handed in my notice with no job to go to,’ she said.
Reacting to the report, Health Secretary Wes Streeting yesterday told MPs that so-called ‘corridor care’ where patients where patients can’t be supplied a bed, was ‘undignified’ but warned that patients were still likely to suffer it next winter.
Extensive waits for care aren’t just inhumane, they can also cost lives.
A previous analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine suggested 12-hour waits caused more than 250 needless deaths a week in 2023.
While our analysis covers up to end of December last year, other data suggests the first few weeks of 2025 weren’t any better for the NHS.
Figures published today suggest the health service is almost full, running at 96 per cent bed capacity last week as hospitals buckle under the weight of a ‘quad-demic’ of winter viruses.
A capacity of 92 per cent is the point where the performance of staff caring for patients drops, according to experts.
A combination of flu, norovirus, RSV, and Covid cases requiring hospital care are thought to be driving the crisis.
Figures show almost 5,000 beds alone were taken up by flu patients every day last week, up 3.5 times on the same week last year.
Rates of the winter vomiting bug norovirus which had dipped in recent weeks have surged again — almost 50 per cent higher than expected for this time of year.
The NHS’s clinical director for emergency care warned hospitals were ‘jam-packed’ and staff faced the busiest week yet this winter.
