New figures show that A&E performance worst on record

New data has revealed that just 85 per cent of patients waited less than four hours from arrival in all of England's A&Es.

This means that more than 81,000 patients waited longer than four hours to be admitted, while the number of people waiting more than 52 weeks for treatment increased to 1,750, with the Kings Fund think tank warning there was ‘very little protection for people who can't be treated within the initial time limit’.

The ‘Beast from the East’, along with high flu levels and norovirus outbreaks, also meant that the figure was just 76.9 per cent in major casualty units.

Financially, 36 per cent of NHS finance directors are expecting to overspend their budgets this year, whilst 63 per cent of finance directors felt that patient care has worsened in their local area in the past year. Only four per cent said it had improved.

Richard Murray, director of Policy at The King’s Fund, said: “Waiting time targets are failing some of the patients most in need of emergency care. Our latest quarterly monitoring report underlines the heroic efforts of NHS staff to keep care standards high in the face of unprecedented pressure on services. But the way waiting times are designed means that there is very little protection for people who can’t be treated within the initial time limit.

“With demand for services likely to remain high, it’s very unlikely that meeting these targets will become more achievable. The waiting time standards should not be abandoned but the NHS needs to ensure the way they are implemented does not leave patients who are not treated within the time limits facing long waits for treatment.”

Ian Dalton, Chief Executive of NHS Improvement said: “These figures show the continued and unprecedented pressure facing NHS services. Staff have coped with substantial growth in demand for emergency care during the month of February, alongside a spike in flu cases. In this difficult context, the fact that around 30,000 more patients were treated, admitted or discharged within four hours in February compared to the same month last year is a testament to enormous hard work by NHS staff.

"More patients also completed elective pathways over the last 12 months compared to the same period last year. Nonetheless, there is a clear need to increase performance against national standards and we are working with hospitals to help them achieve this.”