Patients are dying unnecessarily every week and the NHS is “simply not ready for winter”, according to A&E leaders. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has issued a stark assessment of the health service’s preparedness for the colder months, with its president Dr Ian Higginson describing the situation as “a disgraceful state of affairs”.
Dr Higginson said: “I cannot believe it has been allowed to get this bad. Patients are dying unnecessarily every week whilst politicians continue to focus on the wrong solutions.”
Survey reveals widespread concern among A&E doctors
A survey of 163 doctors leading A&E departments across the UK found that 91% were “very” or “extremely” concerned about the pressure their departments will experience this winter. Just 3% said they were “well prepared” for the colder months, when rising cases of flu and other respiratory viruses are expected to cause a surge in demand. Two-thirds of medics surveyed said their emergency department was unsafe.
Dr Higginson added: “Overcrowding, corridor care, the impending surge of demand from winter, and lack of meaningful preparations, are creating perfect conditions for a terrible winter. Colleagues from across the four nations have been crystal clear: we are not managing now and we simply are not ready for winter.”
He described the current situation in hospitals: “We have patients scattered all over our departments, many stuck in trolleys or on chairs for hours upon hours. The sickest and most injured among them can't get into a hospital bed and end up staying with us, sometimes for days.”
Acute medicine leader backs concerns
Dr Vicky Price, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, supported the warning. She said: “The concerns raised by A&E doctors are shared by those of us working in acute medicine, but describing the pressures facing the NHS this winter as a ‘perfect storm’ risks suggesting they are unexpected or unavoidable. We are not heading into a winter crisis. We are carrying an existing healthcare crisis into winter. The reality is that these problems have been building for years.”
She added: “An ageing population with increasingly complex health needs, shortages in community and social care, and hospitals operating at high occupancy mean patients are struggling to move through the system. None of this should come as a surprise.”
Latest data on corridor care and waits
The latest NHS England data shows an average of 3,310 patients received care in corridors and other inappropriate spaces each day in September, including 2,549 in A&E departments. Dr Price said: “If corridor care is part of the NHS winter plan, the plan has already failed.”
Of the 119 responses gathered from A&E clinical leads in England, almost nine in 10 (89%) described pressure at the moment as high or very high. The number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E departments in England from a decision to admit to actually being admitted stood at 50,582 in September, up from 44,951 in August.
Analysis by the RCEM suggests there were almost 16,000 excess deaths linked to long A&E waiting times in England in 2025 — more than 300 every week.
Government response and calls for action
Health Secretary Yvette Cooper announced almost £140million for 14 new urgent care schemes across England this weekend to help the NHS prepare for a challenging season. She said the money would pay for new urgent treatment centres, same day emergency care services, emergency department upgrades and new ambulance fleets.
Ms Cooper added: “Winter will be more challenging for our NHS this year, after such a heavy summer. That’s why we have been preparing early and investing in extra urgent care capacity to help get patients the care they need.” The RCEM welcomed the investment but said cash was “not being spent in the right places”. It is calling for better staffed departments, for hospitals and systems to work effectively seven days a week with bolstered bed capacity, and for investment to enable patients to be discharged quickly.
Dr Higginson said: “With year-round pressure hitting departments, the vast majority of us have no spare capacity to help deal with the cold months. It was not always this way. Less than a decade ago, the annual NHS 'winter crisis' was declared when waiting times and overcrowding reached a fraction of what we now experience throughout the year. We’ve now got to the point where we can’t tell where one crisis ends and the next begins.”
The RCEM has written directly to Ms Cooper to express its concerns and make recommendations. Dr Higginson urged governments across the UK to “act now”. He added: “Existing winter preparations represent the same old same old, and will yield the same disastrous results. Our clinical leads agree. Knowing that, it beggars belief that we are going into winter with nearly a thousand fewer beds than last year, and with recruitment freezes stopping us recruiting doctors and nurses to help reduce risk for our patients or to get hospitals working.”
Dr Price concluded: “We cannot keep treating predictable pressures as unexpected emergencies. What is needed is sufficient staffed hospital capacity, effective discharge pathways and properly supported community and social care services to keep patients moving safely through the system. Patients deserve better than another winter of unacceptable waits and care in corridors.”
