More than 300 deaths a week 'associated with long ED waits'  

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By Daniel Pye

More than 300 deaths a week are associated with long emergency department waits - ten times higher than they were a decade ago but slightly less than last year, an analysis has found.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s (RCEM) annual report on the state of EDs in England found there were 15,860 excess deaths associated with long waiting times in 2025, averaging 305 people lost every week.

This is slightly fewer than in 2024, when the figure was 16,644, leading RCEM to suggested that figures were stabilising.

However college experts pointed out that it remains much higher rate than 10 years ago, when there were 1,657 excess deaths.

'Not good enough'

Dr Ian Higginson,RCEM president, called the slight reduction “not good enough”.

He questioned why the impact of long ED waits “isn’t the subject of relentless focus and political conversation”.

“Each year, as this analysis is completed, it leads me to question how many more deaths it will take before we see a determined, meaningful plan to tackle this crisis,” he added.