Half a million A&E patients spent more than 24 hours waiting to be admitted

Half a million A&E patients spent more than 24 hours waiting to be admittedHundreds of thousands of NHS patients are spending more than 24 hours in A&E - with more than 13,000 waiting at least three days - as research shows how long waits have surgedCommentsNewsMartin Bagot Health and Science Editor23:30, 22 Apr 2026View 2 ImagesThe wait goes on for many patients seeking treatment on the NHS(Image: Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)Nearly half a million NHS patients spent over a day in A&E last year, new data shows.‌Research by the British Medical Journal found 493,751 patients spent over 24 hours in emergency departments before either being admitted to a hospital bed, transferred or discharged.‌Of these, 13,386 waited at least three days. Numbers spending at least a day in A&E increased by a third between 2023 and 2025 before a more recent improvement in A&E turnaround times.‌Mumtaz Patel, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said waits of over 24 hours “were almost unheard of” before 2020, adding: "I've heard of patients who say they'd rather die at home than come into hospital and be waiting."READ MORE: NHS sees ‘biggest improvement’ since Tony Blair’s New Labour came to power in 1990sREAD MORE: NHS waiting list 'lowest in 3 years' but A&E waits still put patients 'at risk'View 2 ImagesLong A&E waits have been normalised, according to a new report(Image: Getty Images)A&E waits got steadily longer during over a decade of Conservative governments before which waits over 12 hours were unheard of. Official data published by NHS England shows that in December 2019 some 2,356 patients waited longer than 12 hours on a trolley until a proper bed became available. Then by December 2025 it was 50,775 patients.‌Doctors said they are "ashamed" of long waits. Dr Den Langhor, lead of the British Medical Association's consultants committee emergency medicine, said: "This data exposes...