8,365 12 hour A&E waits in Royal Berkshire Hospital as Wokingham MP calls on Chancellor to “winterproof” local health services

It means that roughly one in sixteen (6.3%) of all attendances at A&Es in the area see a patient waiting 12 hours or longer.

The research has also shown a shocking rise in the number of 12 hour A&E waits so far this year. Between February and September compared with the same period last year there has been a 541% spike in the number of people waiting 12 hours or longer in Royal Berkshire A&Es.

This is a rise of 5,310, up to 6,290 from 980. It has sparked further fears that the NHS is on course for yet another winter crisis.

Clive Jones, MP for Wokingham, said the figures show the Chancellor needs to “winterproof” local health services at the Budget, warning this is an issue of “life and death” for patients. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has previously estimated that long A&E delays led to around 14,000 excess deaths last year, or 268 a week.

The Liberal Democrats have called on the Chancellor to launch a new fund at the Budget to put an end to the annual winter crises in the health service. The £1.5 billion ring-fenced fund would be allocated over the next four years, to build resilience in hospital wards, A&E departments, ambulance services and patient discharging. The Party is also calling for a wider funding boost for the NHS in the Budget, including funding to increase the number of GPs, boost the number of NHS dentist appointments and fix crumbling hospitals.

Clive Jones, the MP for Wokingham, said:
“It is terrifying to think that my constituents are regularly having to suffer these dangerously long delays. In many cases getting seen quickly is literally a matter of life and death.

“The appalling legacy that the Conservative Party has left our NHS cannot be understated. They set our health service up for winter crisis after winter crisis, with patients left strewn across hospital corridors, unable to get a bed due to their shameful neglect.

“It is now down to the new government to rise to this challenge and protect people here in Wokingham from the potentially grave consequences of yet another winter crisis.

“That must start at the Budget with the Chancellor taking urgent steps to winterproof our local health services and ensure this is the last winter crisis any of us here in Wokingham have to endure.”