New data reveals link between A&E waiting times and chance of death Your risk of dying within 30 days more than doubles if your attendance at A&E lasts more than 12 hours, compared with those that are finished in two hours.
Of patients who spent a total of 12 hours at A&E, more than 5% died within 30 days, compared with less than 0.3% of patients who waited two hours, a difference of 19.4 times.
Many of those patients whose A&E attendances lasted longer will have come in with more serious conditions, or in worse overall health, explaining why the risk caused by longer waits at A&E is deemed by the study to be lower than the raw difference between the percentage of people who died.
The study, carried out by the ONS in collaboration with NHS England, the Department for Health and Social Care and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), examined the health outcomes of all 6.6m people who attended A&E in England between March 2021 and April 2022, excluding those who died in A&E.
The chance of death was 60% higher for those who spent six hours in A&E, 90% higher at nine hours, and 110% higher at 12 hours.
