630 12 hour waits in Harrogate’s A&E last month as local MP warns government is “sleeping at the wheel”

The latest NHS figures show that there were 630 waits of 12 hours or longer in Harrogate’s A&Es last month, as Harrogate and Knaresborough’s Liberal Democrat MP, Tom Gordon, has said that the government is “asleep at the wheel” with local health services in crisis.

The shocking figures also showed that a staggering 12.20% of waits for people in Harrogate and Knaresborough who attended A&E in December were 12 hours or longer from the time they arrived. 

Local Liberal Democrat MP Tom Gordon said the government is “sleeping at the wheel” having failed to grip the crisis in Harrogate’s health service, putting patients at risk.

They called on the Health Secretary to come forward with an emergency plan to rescue Harrogate’s A&E from this crisis and protect patients who are suffering as a result of these long and dangerous delays. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has previously said that long waits in A&E are estimated to have contributed to 14,000 deaths in 2023. 

Across Yorkshire, there were 13,415 waits of 12 hours or more, representing 9.89% of all A&E attendances in the region. 

Commenting, local MP Tom Gordon said:

“It’s a scandal that these dangerous delays have become normalised here. A&Es are at breaking point after years of the previous Conservative government’s shameful neglect and patients are paying the price.

“The new government looks to be asleep at the wheel and has completely failed to get a grip on the winter crisis. We now need to see Ministers step up and finally begin to tackle this ongoing disaster.

“That means bringing forward an emergency plan to immediately protect patients from the consequences of these long delays. 

"This response must include an urgent expansion of the number of hospital beds available in Harrogate and Knaresborough and a pandemic-style emergency recruitment campaign to bring staff out of retirement and back into our local health services workforce.”

ENDS

Please note that the figures do not include the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust