Emergency care in Wales needs attention

Welsh Government must reverse ‘long-term neglect’ of Emergency Care as A&E waiting times continue to deteriorate.

The newly-elected Welsh Government must outline its plans to tackle the crisis facing Emergency Care in Wales, as thousands of patients experience unacceptable Emergency Department (ED) waits of more than 12 hours.

That’s the message from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) following the publication of data from NHS Wales on ED performance in May 2026.

The stats showed that more than 11,000 patients (15.8% of attendances) who attended a major ED in Wales last month waited more than 12 hours before being admitted, discharged or transferred.

That’s more than one in six people who come to Emergency Departments experiencing such an unacceptably long wait – often on a trolley or a chair in a loud and bright department.

12-hour waits for the month of May 2026 were slightly worse than the same month last year – and around quadruple what they were in May 2016.

Driving this problem is, predominantly, an overall breakdown in hospital flow in our hospitals – not a massive increase in attendances, which have only risen around 6% in a decade.

A lack of inpatient beds for patients who need admission means that people get ‘backed up’ in ED.

“The government should consider how best to tackle the root causes of overcrowding in our departments”

Responding to today’s figures, Dr Rob Perry, Wales Vice President for the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said:

“This can’t continue and the long-term neglect of the Emergency Care system in Wales is taking its toll on the people it is there to serve.

“And, on the other side, working in such conditions is taking its toll on us – the EM staff who have to look patients in the eyes, when we know they are being let down. It’s heartbreaking.”

The stats also show that:

51.2% of ED patients in Wales last month were discharged, admitted or transferred within four hours.
The constitutional standard is for 95% of these patients to pass through the department within four hours.
Waiting times against this metric have worsened compared to May 2025.
An average of 1,275 patients each day remained in a hospital bed despite being medically fit to leave.

Dr Perry continued: “We need urgent action; we need to know what plans the new Plaid Cymru government have to tackle patient flow in our hospitals. Getting this right will save lives.

“The government should consider how best to tackle the root causes of overcrowding in our departments – such as delayed discharges.

“Extending discharge services to seven days a week, improving social care capacity, and implementing shared responsibility across hospital departments for flow, would be a great start.

“If these measures were put into place, they would have an immediate positive impact on patient flow – and far fewer ED patients would have to endure waits of 12, 24 or even, in some cases, 48 hours.”