Across Surrey, a total of 2,761 patients had to wait over 12 hours from the decision to admit to being admitted at emergency wards in March.
Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trusts saw the most patients waiting for more than 12 hours in Surrey(Image: Get Surrey)
The number of patients waiting over 12 hours in A&Es in Surrey fell last month, but is at record highs for this time of year.
Across Surrey, a total of 2,761 patients had to wait over 12 hours from the decision to admit to being admitted at emergency wards in March.
That was down from 2,965 in February and an all-time record high of 3,666 in January.
Despite this fall, however, last month’s total was still the highest for the month of March in our county.
In March 2025, a total of 2,470 patients faced waits of over 12 hours in Surrey A&Es. That was up from 1,892 in March 2024, 1,250 in March 2023 and 131 in March 2022.
The situation in Surrey reflects that of England as a whole.
A total of 46,665 patients had to wait over 12 hours from a decision to admit to being admitted in emergency wards across England in March.
That’s down from 54,649 in February and 71,517 in January, which was the highest number on record.
Despite that though, last month’s total was still the second highest for the month of March.
At the same time last year, some 46,766 patients faced A&E waits of over 12 hours. A year earlier it was 42,968 and in 2023 it was 39,687.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was quite rare for patients to have to wait so long to be admitted.
Back in March 2011, only one patient in the whole of England faced an A&E wait of more than 12 hours. In March 2019, the last year before the pandemic, that rose to 331 patients, less than 1% of the current total.
By March 2022, however, some 22,506 patients had to wait over 12 hours in A&E.
The table below shows the number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E at each of Surrey’s emergency departments.