Responding to analysis from the Scottish Liberal Democrats, which suggested that there were 871 deaths in Emergency Departments (EDs) associated with a 12 or more hour wait for admission, Dr Fiona Hunter, Royal College of Emergency Medicine Vice President for Scotland, said: “These harrowing figures show that something must change in the approach to fixing the crisis in our EDs.
“Heartbreaking doesn’t cover it. Each of these 871 people may have had families and friends who would have had to face the devastating reality that their loved one died not because they were too sick to treat, but because our hospitals don’t have the capacity to look after them properly.
“Patients enduring these long waits are often the sickest or most injured, in need of further care on a ward. But a lack of beds, driven in large part by delayed discharges, meant they had to wait in A&E – and this can go on for hours and hours.
“Almost 900 people may have paid the ultimate price for this complete breakdown in hospital flow.
“Last year, RCEM published figures for 2024, which suggested there were 818 excess deaths associated with 12 hour waits in EDs. Today’s figures suggest that the problem is getting worse, not better.
“Whoever forms the next government cannot ignore this problem. The numbers speak for themselves: more people will die, who otherwise would go home to their families, if overcrowding and long waits in ED aren’t fixed.
“Addressing the ‘back door’ blockage of hospitals must be a priority for all political parties. Only then will the needless and agonising waits, and the avoidable deaths they cause, stop.
“These are fixable issues and we encourage all political parties to make this a priority. Lives are at stake.”