This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
A&E delays peak, figures show
According to official figures from NHS England, A&E delays reached a record high in February for the second month in a row.
Hospital targets aim to see 95 per cent of patients within four hours, however just 87.8 per cent were seen in this time frame, a drop on the January figures.
The news comes as a unit in Lancashire has been forced to close overnight from next week due to severe staffing shortages. According to bosses running the Chorely A&E, the national shortage of A&E doctors has been exacerbated by the cap on agency staff.
The Chorely unit attempted to apply the cap but quickly found it could not fill its roatas. After being forced to rely heavily on locum staff because it did not have enough permanent doctors, the unit stopped using the cap, as directed under the emergency clause in the regulations. However, the unit was forced to close after it was still unable to find inadequate numbers of staff.
Trust medical director Professor Mark Pugh said: "We simply cannot staff the rotas and it is an unacceptable risk to patient safety to attempt to provide an emergency service with no doctors available to see people."
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