Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
Elderly man dies after waiting 52 hours in A&E as hospitals ‘busier than ever’
An Accident and Emergency sign

THE shocking case of an elderly man left unable to swallow after waiting 52 hours in A&E has raised fresh concerns over the state of NHS urgent care.

The 85-year-old was sent to a hospital emergency department after a routine appointment, but died four weeks after spending most of the delay on a bed in the corridor.

A report from the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) said the Parkinson’s sufferer’s condition deteriorated as he was not given the regular medication he needed.

The NHS is now facing a “quad-demic” of disease going into winter amid rising cases of flu, Covid-19, norovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said ambulances are facing huge demand with flu and norovirus numbers in hospital rising sharply.

“For a while there have been warnings of a ‘tripledemic’ of Covid, flu and RSV this winter, but with rising cases of norovirus this could fast become a ‘quad-demic’,” he said.

The Royal College of Nursing warned there is a “barely a spare bed in the NHS.”

The total number of NHS hospital beds has fallen by more than half since the late 1980s, from 299,000 in 1987-88 to just 141,000 by 2019-2020.

NHS Providers, a membership organisation which takes part in negotiations between trusts and the Department of Health, called for a “healthy dose of realism” after the government vowed that 92 per cent of patients will be seen within 18 weeks for pre-planned care by July 2029.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Environment Secretary Steve Reed gives a speech at Kingfisher Wharf, London, following the publication of the Independent Water Commission report, July 21, 2025
Water / 21 July 2025
21 July 2025

Overhaul fails to end privatisation of troubled water sector 

A banner for Hillsborough Law, April 20, 2024
Hillsborough Law / 22 July 2025
22 July 2025