People in deprived areas of England are twice as likely to attend A&E as wealthier regions, new figures show.
There were around twice as many attendances to A&E departments in England for the 10 per cent of the population living in the most deprived areas compared with the least deprived 10 per per cent, according to NHS data.
More than four million people in London attended A&E in the year up to March 2024, the highest figure of any region in the country.
Over two-thirds (34.8 per cent) of patients in the capital waited more than four hours to be seen, the figures show.
Analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) found that 439,4111 patients waited over 12 hours to be admitted to a ward following the decision to move them on from emergency departments.
This is a seven percent increase in patients waiting this long compared to last year, and 1,830 times what the number was a decade ago.
A report published by the King’s Fund earlier this year found that people living in poverty find it harder to access timely NHS care and are more likely to require expensive emergency treatment.
Analysis by the think tank, commissioned by charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, found deprived people find it “harder to live healthy lives, harder to access NHS services, live with greater illness and die earlier than the rest of the population”.
Reacting to the data, Dr Adrian Boyle, President of the RCEM said: “There is a huge amount of information in this data set, much of which clearly indicates the issues we have been highlighting.
“Just five trusts met the 78 per cent four-hour standard, with none meeting the 95 per cent enshrined in the NHS constitution.
“But as important as the four-hour standard is, we know where the true danger lies; in the excessively long stays of 12 hours or more. The scale of those is revealed in this data, with over 1.7 million people having to endure these stays.
“This is affecting our most vulnerable, with people who are experiencing higher levels of deprivation relying more heavily on Urgency and Emergency Care.
“The extent of the challenge we face is evident, but reinstating a functioning care system is possible. We have heard the government's commitment to fixing what is broken and we look forward to contributing to that process.
