Hospital patient had to wait more than 10 days for a bed – as ‘unacceptable’ crisis laid bare
Around 49,000 A&E patients had to wait 24 hours or more for a hospital bed in England last year, according to NHS figures.
Data compiled by the Liberal Democrats from freedom of information requests shows the longest wait was 10 days and 13 hours.
The party said there were 48,830 “trolley waits” of 24 hours or longer in 2024. That is 19.8% higher than 2023 (40,735) and 57.9% higher than 2022 (30,921).
A “trolley wait” is the time taken for a patient to be transferred to a ward after a decision has been taken to admit them to hospital.
The Lib Dems said the real numbers were likely to be far higher because only 54 out of 141 NHS trusts had provided full data.
Over the last three years, the percentage of those waiting aged 65 or over remained consistent at around 70%.
The Royal College of Nursing said the figures “only begin to scratch the surface” of a “crisis in corridor care” – and that declining recruitment in nursing was adding to the problem.
General secretary Professor Nicola Ranger said corridor care is “undignified and unsafe” and “must be eradicated”.
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Health sec did not anticipate scrapping NHS England
Crisis ‘will take time’ to fix
The government has made cutting NHS waiting lists one of its key missions.
It insisted progress had been made by deploying RSV, COVID and flu vaccines, ending strikes by healthcare workers and reforming the health service, including scrapping NHS England.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “No patient should have to spend 24 hours in A&E waiting to be admitted to a ward.
“We are determined to end the annual winter crisis in urgent care and to cut waiting lists for emergency care, but it will take time.”
They said “providing more care in the community” would help ensure fewer patients end up in A&E to begin with.
The Lib Dems are campaigning for a new team of “super-heads”, consisting of experienced NHS bosses, to be deployed within struggling NHS Trusts and bring them up to standard.
Read more from Sky News:
A&E waits linked to deaths
Labour marks NHS ‘milestone’
Official statistics show the total number of patients waiting over 12 hours for an emergency admission in England decreased from 61,529 in January to 46,766 in March.
Some of the fall can be attributed to a post-seasonal peak from winter illnesses.
Previous analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine found there were almost 14,000 deaths associated with long A&E stays before admission in 2023.
Excitement in the crypto community is growing over the potential launch of XRP funds, as the US Senate advances a deal aimed at ending the longest-ever government shutdown.
The Senate reportedly reached a deal on a budget bill to end the government shutdown on Sunday, sending a bullish signal to numerous markets, including crypto.
The XRP (XRP) community is anticipating multiple XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to launch shortly, with several already appearing on the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) website ahead of a possible launch this month.
The price of XRP has rallied more than 12% on the bullish news over the past 24 hours, with the token trading at $2.56 at the time of publication, according to CoinGecko.
11 XRP products listed on DTCC
As of Monday, the DTCC website featured 11 XRP ETF products on its “active and pre-launch” listing, including those by 21Shares, ProShares, Bitwise, Canary Capital, Volatility Shares, REX-Osprey, CoinShares, Amplify and Franklin Templeton.
Although a DTCC listing does not equal actual launch and does not guarantee regulatory approval, it signals that the ETF infrastructure is ready to be traded on US markets.
It’s worth noting that Grayscale’s XRP Trust (GXRP) has not yet appeared on the DTCC website, and the list also does not currently include an XRP fund from WisdomTree.
“Government shutdown ending = spot crypto ETF floodgates opening,” ETF expert Nate Geraci wrote in an X post on Sunday, adding: “In the meantime, could see first ‘33 Act spot xrp ETF launch this week.”
Related: End to US gov’t shutdown sparks institutional buying, ETF ‘floodgate’ hopes
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas also posted on X on Sunday, noting that the “shutdown is over” and highlighting a subsequent uptick in US equity futures.
“The SEC had open litigation against Ripple for the past five years, up until three months ago. IMO, the launch of spot XRP ETFs represents the final nail in the coffin for the previous wave of anti-crypto regulators,” he wrote in an X post on Nov. 2.
He also highlighted a post from Canary Capital, which claimed last Friday that its XRP ETF is “coming soon,” speculating that the product could go live by the end of this week.
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Acting Chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Caroline Pham is in talks with regulated US crypto exchanges to launch leveraged spot crypto products as early as next month.
In a Sunday X post, Pham confirmed that she is pushing to allow leveraged spot crypto trading in the US and that she is in talks with regulated US crypto exchanges to launch leveraged crypto spot products next month.
Pham also confirmed that she continued meeting with industry representatives despite the government shutdown. The regulator is also currently considering issuing guidance for leveraged spot crypto products.
The news comes after the CFTC launched an initiative in early August to enable the trading of “spot crypto asset contracts” on exchanges registered with the regulator. In an announcement at the time, Pham invited comment on the rules that governed “retail trading of commodities with leverage, margin, or financing.”
According to the Federal Register, the Commodity Exchange Act “provides that a retail commodity transaction entered into with a retail person which is executed on a leveraged or margined basis” is “subject to the Commission’s jurisdiction, unless the transaction results in actual delivery of the commodity within 28 days of the transaction.” Consequently, leveraged crypto spot positions would only be allowed if their duration were limited to 28 days or they would be illegal.
Related: Republican Senator Says There’s a Small Time Frame for Passing Crypto Bill
Crypto pushes forward despite shutdown
A US government shutdown occurs when Congress fails to pass an annual spending bill or a short-term continuing resolution, blocking much of the federal government’s spending. In such situations, non-essential services are paused, some workers are furloughed, and others work without pay.
The current shutdown started on Oct. 1. However, Sunday reports suggest that the shutdown is likely nearing its end as the Senate moves to consider a continuing resolution to fund the government.
Related: Michael Selig Confirms CFTC Nomination, but Questions Linger
The report follows speculation about the impact of the government shutdown on progress in US crypto regulation. Early October reports noted that the SEC began its shutdown by announcing that it would “not engage in ongoing litigation,” except for emergency cases.
Despite this, at the end of October, many US senators reportedly moved to advance a bill on crypto market structure rules, despite the shutdown. Reports from earlier this month also suggest that meetings on the bill are still taking place in the US Senate despite the shutdown.
Magazine: US risks being ‘front run’ on Bitcoin reserve by other nations: Samson Mow
The United Kingdom’s central bank is moving toward stablecoin regulation by publishing a consultation paper proposing a regulatory framework for the asset class.
The Bank of England (BoE) on Monday released a proposed regulatory regime for sterling-denominated “systemic stablecoins,” or tokens it said are widely used in payments and therefore potentially pose risks to the UK financial stability.
Under the proposal, the central bank would require stablecoin issuers to back at least 40% of their liabilities with unremunerated deposits at the BoE, while allowing up to 60% in short-term UK government debt.
The consultation paper seeks feedback on the proposed regime until Feb. 10, 2026, with the BoE planning to finalize the regulations in the second half of the year.
Holding limits, backing and oversight
As part of the proposal, the central bank suggested capping individual stablecoin holdings at 20,000 British pounds ($26,300) per token, while allowing exemptions from the proposed 10,000 pound ($13,200) for retail businesses.
“We propose that issuers implement per-coin holding limits of 20,000 GBP for individuals and 10 million pounds for businesses,” the BoE stated, adding that businesses could qualify for exemptions if higher balances are needed in the course of normal operations.
Regarding stablecoin backing, the BoE suggested that issuers that are considered systemically important could be allowed to hold up to 95% of their backing assets in UK government debt securities as they scale.
Related: Bank of England pledges to keep pace with US on stablecoin regulations
“The percentage would be reduced to 60% once the stablecoin reaches a scale where this is appropriate to mitigate the risks posed by the stablecoin’s systemic importance without impeding the firm’s viability,” it added.
The BoE noted that His Majesty’s Treasury determines which stablecoin payment systems and service providers are deemed systemically important. Once designated, these systems would fall under the proposed regime and the BoE’s supervision.
Magazine: Bitcoin’s ‘speed bump’ to $56K? Ripple rejects IPO plans: Hodler’s Digest, Nov. 2 – 8
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