The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) is calling on the Welsh Government to take immediate action on bed capacity and hospital overcrowding – or face A&Es becoming overwhelmed this winter.

This message follows the publication of the latest Emergency Department (ED) performance data for Wales, covering September 2026.

A total of 11,600 patients, roughly 17%, who attended a major (type-1) ED in September waited more than half a day before being discharged, admitted or transferred.

Meanwhile, only 50% of patients passed through the ED within four hours. The NHS-mandated target is 95% of patients.

These figures marked last month as the worst September on record for long waits.

Dr Rob Perry, RCEM Wales Vice President, said: "Emergency Departments (EDs) in Wales are struggling. This should not be news to anybody; it's been this way all year.

"Today's figures, however, show that things are not only failing to improve – we're at the worst we've ever been for this time of year.

"Winter is on the horizon. At this rate, EDs will be overwhelmed and our patients will suffer."

The key driver of long waits in ED is not high attendances, though that does have an impact. A lack of available inpatient beds in hospital wards, caused largely by delays to discharges, is the main issue.

In September, an average of 1,417 hospital beds per day in Wales were occupied by patients who were medically fit to be discharged – but who could not leave hospital. This could be due to a lack of social care capacity or of specialist hospital staff crucial to the discharge process.

Dr Perry continued: "Next month, the Welsh Government is due to publish new Emergency Care expectations for providers and has now abolished clinical exemptions, which previously concealed how long some patients had spent in the ED.

"These measures are certainly welcome. But they won't do much to tackle crisis we find ourselves in.

"We need action at the 'back door' of our hospitals to speed up discharges, free up beds and ultimately ease patient flow. If this is done, we can finally work towards stamping out corridor care, long waits and the harms associated with them."