NHS Confederation responds to Royal College of Emergency Medicine report

Responding to the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s report ‘Crowding and its Consequences’ which shows thousands of excess deaths caused by crowding in emergency departments last year, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: 

“Over-crowding in emergency departments is not merely inconveniencing patients during their visits to hospital, it’s costing thousands of lives.

“NHS leaders and staff are doing their utmost to provide patients with the treatment that they need. However, the health service requires urgent support to address severe workforce shortages as well as a waiting list for elective care which now stands at 5.82m patients.

“This report again shows why healthcare leaders are sounding the alarm, with the health service now under critical and unsustainable pressure.”