Patients are over twice as likely to die if they are kept waiting in A&E for more than 12 hours, new data has shown.

A new study by the Office for National Statistics showed that patients who waited for three hours in A&E were 10 per cent more likely to die within 30 days than those who spent two hours waiting for medical attention.

The figure rises to 60 per cent for those held for six hours, and 90 per cent for nine hours.

Those who wait 12 hours in A&E were 110 per cent more likely to die as those who were kept waiting for just two hours, the ONS study found.

The research, which was conducted with NHS England, analysed the 6.6million people who visited A&E between March 2021 and April 2022, excluding patients who died there, Sky News reported.

Of the 6.6million, 88,000 or 1.3 per cent of patients passed away within 30 days of their visit. 

While more than five per cent of patients died after spending more than 12 hours in A&E, just 0.3 per cent died after waiting two hours. 

The large difference can be explained in part due to the fact that those with more severe conditions were more likely to wait longer for medical attention. 

New figures have shown patients who wait for more than 12 hours in A&E are twice as likely to die within 30 days (file photo)

Patients sleeping in beds at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent

Another contributing factor was the Covid pandemic, during which part of the study was conducted, with many A&E centres having to operate differently from normal including by segregating infected patients.

However with A&E attendances returning largely to normal by the end of the pandemic, findings from the data are still significant and the impact of Covid on the deaths since then shouldn’t be overstated, the study’s authors said. 

Professor Julian Redhead, NHS national clinical director for urgent and emergency care said the worrying figures were a result of ‘pressure across health and social care’ including record numbers of patients in A&E and at GPs.

He said: ‘More needs to be done to support patients and hard-working NHS staff, and we will work with government to develop further plans to improve urgent and emergency care, including shifting more care to community settings.’ 

The latest statistics come amid the revelation that delays in A&E are being understated by official figures.

As many as a quarter of patients at England’s busiest hospitals are not being admitted or discharged within 12 hours, with a total of 1.75million waiting that time in A&E last year.

The worst offender for December was Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, with 27.5 per cent of A&E patients enduring 12-hour waits. 

The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Trust and Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS FT both saw over a quarter of patients kept waiting for 12 hours or more, at 26.6 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.

At the other end of the spectrum, the best performing trust, excluding specialist facilities, was Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS FT with just 1.7 of patients left waiting for more than half a day. 

A total of 677,473 patients sat in A&E for more than four hours in December, equating to nearly six times the target of five per cent.

This is a significant increase on pre-Covid figures, when just 396,198 waited for more than four hours in December 2019, which in turn was more than four times higher than in December 2010, when 89,917 waited at least the same length of time.