SENIOR doctors have warned of an “alarming threat to patient safety” after figures show that more than a million elderly people waited over 12 hours in A&E last year.

A report from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) published today describes a growing crisis in England’s emergency departments, with older and frail patients increasingly left on trolleys in corridors for extended periods.

Figures obtained by the freedom of information act show that 1.15 million people aged over 60 waited more than 12 hours to be transferred, admitted or discharged in 2023 — up from 991,068 the year before and nearly triple the 2019 total of 305,619.