Nearly 8,000 people were injured and 112 died last year due to long waits for ambulances or operations, prompting warnings that delays in NHS care were “a disaster”.
The death toll included a man who died of cardiac arrest while waiting for 18 minutes for an ambulance service to answer a 999 call and was already dead by the time rescuers arrived.
The figures are the first time NHS England has revealed how often doctors and nurses submit patient safety reports after someone is harmed while waiting for help.
Research shows the number of patient deaths directly caused by delays in care has more than quintupled in the past three years, from 21 in 2019 to 112 last year, as the NHS comes under severe pressure. During this period, the number of people suffering “serious injuries” also jumped from 96 to 152.
The total number of people who sustained some degree of harm in this condition jumped from 3,979 in 2019 to 7,856 in 2022, an increase of 97%.
Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: “These figures are shocking and clearly demonstrate the human impact of the NHS crisis on individual patients. “We have been following the ongoing disaster in the NHS , and repeatedly warned that patient safety was at risk.”
Trusts are reducing the number of surgeries they plan to carry out after the government refused to provide £1bn of bailout funding to help pay for staff strikes. Ball said that would “result in more patients waiting for care and potentially being harmed.”
Last year, a total of 471 patients waiting for adult mental health care were harmed by delays, more than in any other specialty – although this may be due to higher patient numbers. The next highest numbers were for care involving delivery (253 cases), eye problems (221 cases) and trauma and general surgery (207 cases).
NHS England provided the Guardian with anonymous details of 30 deaths last year. One entry explains: “Long delay in call response for critical call. Original call (unnamed ambulance service) 18 minutes before first related call answered. Call was coded as cardiac arrest and once answered, patient Died at the scene.”
People in cardiac arrest should get help from ambulance crews within seven minutes of receiving the call because their lives are in danger. Several other deaths were linked to ambulance services being “backlogged” with 999 calls, with people being put on hold because they didn’t have the resources to answer calls quickly.
In another case, a patient starting chemotherapy for follicular lymphoma was also diagnosed with hepatitis B. They were initially treated but subsequently did not attend the hepatitis clinic or receive further doses of the drug tenofovir. The patient subsequently developed fulminant hepatitis B and died.
The data were taken from the NHS’s National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS), a database where staff can record if a patient’s care is deemed to be of poor quality.
The Guardian obtained the statistics through a Freedom of Information (FoI) request to NHS England, but NHS England only released the figures after the Information Commissioner intervened. It was supposed to release the data a month later but took five months to do so.
Statutory patient advocate Health Watch said patients facing delays in long-term care may feel forgotten.
“We know delays in care have a significant impact on people’s lives, putting many people at risk. People tell us we have been taken off the waiting list, sometimes without telling us why, or at all,” the said Louise Ansari, chief executive of the regulator.
Paul Whiteing, chief executive of patient safety charity Action Against Medical Mistakes, said: “These significant increases in reported patient harm and deaths are alarming… Sadly, they agree with what we see every day Hear from the patients who contact us. Tell us about their pain issues.”
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Adam Sampson, chief executive of the Association of Optometrists, said: “We are facing a health emergency and more people are waiting longer than ever for vision-restoring treatments.
“It is incomprehensible and absolutely tragic that patients’ vision is delayed to such an extent that they suffer further vision loss that is avoidable and irreversible.”
NHS England figures almost certainly grossly underestimate the problem. A&E doctors estimate that up to 500 people may die each week due to delays in getting an ambulance, receiving A&E care or starting specialist treatment.
Ambulance service chiefs estimate that 6,000 people will suffer “serious injuries” in December 2022 alone, with the British Heart Foundation previously warning that ambulance delays pose a threat to lives.
A health service spokesman said: “NHS staff worked extremely hard to keep patients safe during one of the busiest winters on record last year, and while delays related to serious injury are rare, when they do happen, Trusts must investigate and understand what they know is happening so that they can take effective steps to improve further.
“To meet continued record demand, the NHS is preparing for this winter earlier than ever, launching 800 new ambulances and 10,000 virtual hospital beds, while ambulances, 999 calls and Waiting times in A&E have improved.”
Lib Dem analysis of NHS data found some heart attack and stroke patients were waiting more than 90 minutes for ambulances to arrive. Due to the risk to life, such calls should be answered within 18 minutes.
“We know that in emergencies, minutes can make a huge difference. So it’s heartbreaking to see ambulance delays increasing, with heart attack and stroke patients waiting hours for help to arrive. “The party’s health spokesperson Daisy Cooper said.