No sign of winter pressures easing as A&Es continue to bear the brunt of a gridlocked system

As new data shows that hospitals are running dangerously close to capacity, and with thousands of people each day remaining in hospital when they could go home, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has described the system as grinding to a halt.

New data recently released by NHS England show that, in the final week of January, almost 95 out of every 100 in-patient beds (94.7%) in major hospitals in England were occupied, and when this is narrowed to adult beds in major hospitals, that figure rises to 96%.

With wards full to bursting, Emergency Department clinicians struggle to find beds for their patients who need to be admitted – leading to overcrowding, ‘corridor care’ and dangerous long waits in A&Es.

The figures, which cover 27 January – 2 February 2025, are part of NHSE’s weekly ‘situation reports’.

Released on 6 February 2025, they show:

An average of 13, 776 patients each day who were deemed medically well enough to leave, were stuck in hospital last week waiting to be discharged. That is 350 more than last week and is the highest average so far this winter.

A total of 26,211 hours were lost to ambulance delays over 30 minutes, which is equivalent to more than three years.

There were 961 patients a day in hospital with Norovirus last week. Cases have increased by 7% compared to last week and are 69% higher than the same time last year.

“The system is gridlocked. When there is so little capacity, the flow of patients through the hospital grinds to a halt.

“You can keep adding people into the system through the Emergency Department but if you can’t discharge them from wards when they are well enough to go home, the system breaks down, and we see the result in ED corridors and carparks.

“We must not let the narrative be – ‘this is caused by winter viruses’. It’s not. The system was under severe pressure heading into this cold season. Flu, as well as norovirus, are the straw that is breaking the camel’s back.

“Clinicians are exhausted, and patients are still bearing the brunt of the crisis. Today the Health Secretary has said he wants stop winter pressures leading to winter crises.

“We look forward to hearing the detail of how this will be achieved as we cannot keep accepting this shameful state of affairs as normal year after year.”
Dr Adrian Boyle, President of RCEM.

A graphical representation of the data can be found here.

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