A&E deaths rose by 4,000 last year as hospital waiting times soar amid NHS crisis

Labour's Keir Starmer will pledge to end record backlogs in accident and emergency services as he unveils his overhaul plan on Monday of the health service

More than 23,000 patients died on A&E wards last year (

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Labour has pledged to cut emergency room waits as shocking figures show the number of people dying in hospital emergency departments rose by 4,000 in the last year.

Keir Starmer will unveil his plans to overhaul the health service in a major speech on Monday.

Figures from the NHS Trusts show that 23,316 patients died in emergency departments last year.

That's 4,194 more than the previous year when there were 19,122 - and 5,814 more than in 2019 before the pandemic.

This comes as patients face record delays in treatment.

Hospitals are supposed to see 95% of people visiting the emergency room within four hours, but this standard has not been met since 2015.

Labour leader Keir Starmer will deliver a major speech on the NHS on Monday (

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Cambridge News)

Last month, 113,000 people waited longer than that, while 27,000 were forced to wait more than 12 hours.

Academic studies have shown that delays in A&E correlate with a higher likelihood that patients will die.

One additional death occurs for every 82 patients delayed for more than six to eight hours.

In his speech, Mr Starmer will urge the next Labor government to end these dangerous A&E expectations.

He will also pledge to reduce the burden on hospitals by reforming the NHS, provide more community-based care and work to prevent more health problems in the first place.

Labour plans to train an additional 7,500 doctors and 10,000 nurses each year, providing the staff needed to treat NHS patients on time. He intends...