A record number of patients were forced to wait at least 12 hours for emergency care last month, damming figures show.

Official data shows 61,529 people waited more than half a day in A&E departments to receive care in January — up 13 per cent on December’s figure. 

It comes as separate NHS figures shows the number of bed-blockers — patients well enough to leave hospital but unable to get care at home — hit the highest level this winter, reaching just over 14,000.

Experts urged the Government to address the lack of social care capacity that’s behind the delayed discharges, amid warnings the lack of beds is overwhelming emergency departments. 

While the NHS recorded a record number of 12-hour A&E waits, a MailOnline analysis suggests the true extent of the problem is much worse. 

The health service highlights so-called trolley waits in their published figures — the time between a medic deciding a patient needs to be admitted to hospital, and when they are given a bed.

Critics claim this underestimates the scale of the problem as it does not tally the total time a patient spends waiting in A&E, from the point when they arrive. 

By this metric, the number of over 12-hour waits last month jumped to 172,515 — more than twice the NHS’ estimate. Now, using MailOnline’s exclusive tracker tool below, it’s possible to search for your local NHS Trust, and see the extent of the delays.

Reacting to the new NHS data, Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), said the figures were a ‘catastrophe’. 

‘The highest ever number of patients experiencing stays of 12 hours or more before an inpatient bed can be found for them is nothing short of a catastrophe,’ he added.

Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive NHS Providers, added that this winter has been the ‘toughest’ that many NHS leaders can remember.

‘Wards are full of thousands of patients ready to be discharged but can’t be, often due to a lack of community NHS or social care capacity,’ she added.

‘Last week, one in seven beds were filled by these patients.’

‘This logjam has been a challenge for years, we need a long-term solution. It has a serious knock-on effect, with a record number of patients waiting to be admitted through A&E.’ 

A record number of patients were forced to wait at least 12 hours for care after being admitted to A&E last month damming figures show. Stock image

The number of patients waiting at least four hours in A&E also rose last month to  159,582 in January, up 3 per cent from December. 

Professor Julian Redhead, NHS England’s national clinical director for urgent and emergency care, said the health service, overall, saw an improvement in emergency care last month. 

‘Despite that storm of pressure in January, A&E and ambulance waiting times were improved on both the month and year before, and this year we will continue work to improve patient flow across hospitals throughout the year, to ensure that we’re in a better position for next winter,’ she said.  

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the Government would continue to work to improve A&E performance. 

‘Annual winter pressures should not automatically lead to an annual winter crisis and we will soon publish our plan to improve urgent and emergency care services, so the NHS can be there for everyone when they need it, once again,’ he said. 

According to a recently released NHS report, almost 520,000 patients endured delays exceeding 12-hours throughout 2024.

But a MailOnline investigation found this number drastically underplayed the shocking reality of the casualty crisis, as the real estimation is likely to be closer to 1.75million.

That’s because NHS analyses only measure so-called ‘trolley waits’ – the time between a medic deciding a patient needs to be admitted to hospital, and when they are given a bed. 

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which describes its A&E at Blackpool Victoria Hospital as ‘one of the busiest in the country’ had the highest proportion of patients suffering 12-hour waits in the country

MailOnline has revealed how long patients can expect to wait from the time they arrive at A&E, to the time healthcare professionals decide the best course of treatment. 

Our exclusive tool uses this data to enable you to see the proportion of patients who wait for at least 12-hour are at your local A&E.

Analysis by this website also showed the scale of the A&E crisis was hitting some hospitals harder than others with nearly one in three patients in some hospitals forced to wait at least 12-hours for vital treatment. 

The worst offender was Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where just under a third of urgent care patients across its hospitals waited for 12 hours or more In December. 

Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust came second with 26.6 per cent of patients facing extreme delays, followed by the Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, where the figure stands at 25 per cent.

The best performing trust was Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, where just 0.4 per cent of patients wait longer than 12-hours to see a healthcare professional.

Extensive waits for care aren’t just inhumane, they can also cost lives.

A previous analysis by the RCEM suggested 12-hour waits caused more than 250 needless deaths a week in 2023. 

College officials say they expect figures for 2024 to be even worse.  

Our analysis followed a harrowing report by NHS nurses that warned staff are so overstretched that dead patients are lying undiscovered for hours in A&E.