To: UK GOVERNMENT
Demand the government launch an urgent inquiry into A&E departments in the UK
In recent years, the UK's Accident & Emergency (A&E) departments have faced mounting pressures that warrant a comprehensive and urgent inquiry. These vital services, existing to offer immediate care during emergencies, are being hampered by understaffing, resource shortages, and overwhelming patient numbers. As these challenges persist, the quality of care and patient outcomes risk significant erosion, potentially leading to grave consequences for public health.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has repeatedly sounded the alarm, highlighting that delays in patient care can lead to avoidable deaths. Long waiting times, with some patients left in corridors for hours, are increasingly becoming the norm rather than the exception. Such systemic issues not only affect patients but also place undue stress on dedicated NHS staff striving to deliver the best possible care.
A&E departments are critical, not just for individual health emergencies but for the integrity of the National Health Service as a whole. Waiting times are totally unacceptable right now and can average 12hrs to see a doctor and up to a week on a corridor. People who sign this petition will add their own stories. The government HAVE to listen!
Immediate action is necessary to protect public health and restore faith in our healthcare system. By signing this petition, you are advocating for transparency, accountability, and a commitment to improving the nation's emergency healthcare services. Your voice is crucial in demanding the government recognize the urgent need for this inquiry and take decisive steps to ensure that A&E departments can provide timely and effective care to everyone in need.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has repeatedly sounded the alarm, highlighting that delays in patient care can lead to avoidable deaths. Long waiting times, with some patients left in corridors for hours, are increasingly becoming the norm rather than the exception. Such systemic issues not only affect patients but also place undue stress on dedicated NHS staff striving to deliver the best possible care.
A&E departments are critical, not just for individual health emergencies but for the integrity of the National Health Service as a whole. Waiting times are totally unacceptable right now and can average 12hrs to see a doctor and up to a week on a corridor. People who sign this petition will add their own stories. The government HAVE to listen!
Immediate action is necessary to protect public health and restore faith in our healthcare system. By signing this petition, you are advocating for transparency, accountability, and a commitment to improving the nation's emergency healthcare services. Your voice is crucial in demanding the government recognize the urgent need for this inquiry and take decisive steps to ensure that A&E departments can provide timely and effective care to everyone in need.
Why is this important?
JUST ONE EXAMPLE!
March 30th 2026 A& E in next town (nearest)
On arrival - It was absolutely packed to standing room only and the screen said there was a waiting time of 6 and a half hours. Around 7pm on a Monday night.
I explained at reception that the doctor had insisted my husband attend A&E with some stroke symptoms. After about an hour my husband was triaged – blood pressure and heart rate and some basic checks taken by a nurse. After a couple more hours, he had blood taken.
Meanwhile, the suggested waiting time slowly rose on screen from to almost 10 hrs. Elderly people were waiting with carers desperately trying to get taxis for them. People kept going to ask the staff when it was likely they would be seen. I spoke to someone who had been waiting longer than us who had brought his dad as an emergency after being told the ambulance would be a 5hr wait – he was told he would be seen on arrival. I saw him STILL in a cubicle when we were finally leaving. In that time his dad had fell off his seat and cut his arm in the waiting room and staff had to dress it.
5hrs passed. Around midnight, an announcement was made to say that they were moving over to night staff so there would be less staff and very few doctors. They said it had been an extremely busy night and ambulances were queueing and trollies filled the corridors. One nurse intimated that there were absolutely no beds available for anyone who needed admitting. We were asked to form a queue if we wanted to make an appointment to come back in the morning. We were told some may not be suitable for this – we presumed due to urgency – and some were knocked back. So we didn’t look at this option because we felt my husband was sent with a degree of urgency and also we had to get a lift there and would have to get one home then back. I can’t drive and my husband can’t presently with a numb right foot. On the TV screen spouting corporate adverts mostly – there was a campaign ad telling you to ACT FAST on stroke symptoms – sick with irony.
Just after this announcement and with a packed waiting room, the screen showing waiting time was switched off.
At 2am, my husband was called into the back of A&E and placed in another room with about 6 other patients and one relative allowed each. We were given water or a hot drink. It was an airless, windowless room with chairs and now contained around a dozen tired people. Most in pain – awaiting results, MRI and CT scans and to see a doctor. Between 2am and 9am NO ONE was called for anything and no more drinks or information was brought to us. A young nurse came in on 2 occasions to take blood pressure and heart rate. In that room were people who had been waiting since 8am the previous morning and others who had been there since lunchtime.
Once all the staff came to work at 9am things started moving. We were the last ones to be called. At 9.30am I asked when we would be seen – I was told we were next. At 9.45 when I asked again, I was snapped at and told pestering won’t make it quicker and made to feel I should consider more important cases being seen! At 10am we were seen by a young doctor who said the blood tests were fine and who did some basic exercises with my husband. She then said she believed it was Diabetic Neuropathy and not a stroke and so no need for a EEG or brain scan. We were sent home at around 10.30am after being sat in the A&E since 7pm the previous day.
To add depth to this horrific tale another lady who was in the room with us actually went home after waiting hours in A&E. She received a phone call in the early hours to tell her it was suspected she had had a heart attack and to come back immediately. She was then put in the room next door and later moved to our room. She was in the same boat as us between 2am and 9am with minimum monitoring and no bed or treatment. She was still waiting for a bed as we left.
To conclude – we had been placed in a small room, away from main A&E under the premise we were closer to being attended to. Yet for the whole night – between 2am and 9am, we were ignored apart from occasional blood pressure/heartrate checks. We did not even have drinks provided. Mostly, the staff were running around trying to do their best but we couldn’t help but notice many at computer terminals. We have no idea why we were contained in a room waiting for services that the hospital did not have available during night hours. All of A&E looked like some third world clinic. If it is overwhelmed now, what will it be like when the thousands of new families move into the thousands of new-builds in the area?! As this is a relatively new hospital, why on earth was it not given a much bigger A&E considering the enormity of the area it has to serve?! I have witnessed similar before myself – and it is a dangerous situation. Patients AND staff deserve a better situation.
