THE number of patients waiting on trolleys in emergency departments in England increased by 50 per cent in October, with the number of patients waiting longer than 12 hours from decision to admission having quadrupled from September.
NHS England Performance figures for October 2020 also show performance against the four-hour target was down by 4 per cent in type 1 Emergency Departments from the previous month, with nearly 1 in 4 patients waiting longer than four hours to be seen.
The proportion of patients attending A&E who required admission was up by 3 per cent on last October, and ambulance response times are up on last month and the same month last year.
Dr Katherine Henderson, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: "I am appalled and alarmed; the data is massively worrying.
"Despite our repeated calls for action, crowding and corridor care is back and it has to stop. It is a dangerous and unsafe situation that puts enormous pressure on staff and departments and now increases the risk of hospital acquired infection to patients."
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