Shocking new analysis by Age UK for the period 2024/25 shows there were more than 100,000 instances of over-65s waiting between one and three days in A&E after a decision to admit them had been made.

Critically, the number of people affected in this way reveals an “exponential increase” over the last six years: in 2018/19, people aged 65 plus experienced a wait of between one and three days in A&E only 1,346 times.

The Charity is also hugely concerned that in more than half of the cases of lengthy stays in A&E, the older people affected were aged 80 plus (53% or 53,870).

One 77-year old told Age UK that he spent some 30 hours in A&E: “Every joint was aching. It was excruciating, and I could barely move. They told me there were no beds, no trolleys, nothing. I was left in the reception area all night with no treatment and no one checking on me.

“I ended up lying on the floor. Someone gave me a coat to put under my head. I’d been awake for three nights by then. It was horrendous.”

Others describe being left vomiting while sitting on plastic chairs or lying on the floor, alone, too unwell to even move, some developing pressure sores, or self-discharging against medical advice because they felt safer taking their chances outside hospital than staying.  They talk of being exhausted, frightened and distressed, and robbed of their dignity when they were at their most vulnerable, and in some cases not even being offered a glass of water. 

In considering the disastrous impact on very sick older people of having to endure a lengthy period waiting for a hospital bed, often in discomfort on a corridor or in another inappropriate space, it is also important to recognise that some will also have experienced other delays waiting for an ambulance, and in going through the triage process once they have arrived in A&E.

In the words of Age UK: “We have witnessed an exponential increase over six years that shames our society and the NHS and that, in Age UK’s view, demands a more urgent Government response than appears currently being offered.”    

“We can solve the problem of Corridor Care” 

Age UK says that: “We know that in some hospitals, long corridor waits occur far less frequently than in others. It is also clear that the reason that older people are so over-represented among those experiencing long waits and Corridor Care is because they usually present at A&E with multiple, often complex health needs which take longer to assess and determine the right course of treatment for. Compare this, for example, with what needs to happen with an otherwise fit and well 25-year-old who has broken their leg playing football – the treatment they need is simpler.

“Therefore, to speed up the process for older people waiting for a hospital bed, at a time when we have a growing older population, the way hospitals work needs to adapt.

“For example, by ensuring doctors and other professionals who specialise in the health of older people work in or close to A&E and available 24/7, because they are better able to assess older people’s needs accurately and quickly.

“In fact, the evidence is that these expert clinicians are more likely to decide that an admission to hospital is not the best approach for an unwell older person allowing them to go home.

“Speeding up the flow of patients through hospitals also depends on there being effective discharge arrangements, which in turn rely on good joint working between the hospital, community health services and social care – the latter run by local authorities – and on there being enough social care available more generally.

Call for urgent action  

 Age UK is calling on the Government to:

• Urgently produce a funded operational plan to reduce the incidence of long A&E waits and end Corridor Care, with specific deadlines and milestones.  
• Establish a robust system to collect and publish regular data on Corridor Care (as well as long A&E waits), and their impacts on the public, including by age and ethnicity.    
• Appoint a Minister in the Department of Health and Social Care accountable for reducing long A&E waits and ending Corridor Care and require them to report on progress to Parliament every six months.    
• Turbo-charge a peer learning programme for hospitals and local health organisations (Integrated Care Boards) to share proven solutions, tackle barriers to discharge and protect and support NHS staff.    
• Work at pace to implement the 10 Year Health Plan, especially the ‘hospital to home’ shift and creation of a Neighbourhood Health Service, ensuring social care and the VCSFE are fully played in – so fewer older people need to come to A&E in the first place.     

 “This is no way to treat our older people”

Caroline Abrahams, Age UK Charity Director, said: “We should all be ashamed that this is what we’ve come to in some hospitals, it’s utterly soul destroying for doctors and nurses, and extremely frightening for older people who know they may need to go to A&E one day.

“Of course, no one is happy with conditions like these, including Ministers, but at Age UK we are yet to be convinced that the Government really appreciates the seriousness of this situation and has the grip to turn it around.”

Photo by Alberto Sharif Ali Soleiman on Unsplash