NHS England failed to meet A&E waiting time targets for the first three months of the year.
When patients present to an Accident & Emergency department, they should be seen, diagnosed and treated within four hours. But the research, carried out by the King’s Fund, found that 5.9% of patients had waited longer than the permitted time frame.
This means a total of 313,000 patients had to wait for over four hours, representing a 39% rise from the same period in 2012 . It is the worst performance for nine years, and some units have even had to set up temporary waiting areas in car parks and store rooms, just to deal with the demand.
However, there has not been a significant increase in the number of people presenting at A&E. Instead, John Appleby, chief economist at the King’s Fund, suggests the NHS budget was “one of the key reasons” for the spike in waits.
The statistics are yet more bad news for A&E departments across the country. Last month doctors and ministers warned the entire system could collapse if urgent action is not taken, citing funding issues and staffing shortages as major problems within the NHS.
Clare Gerada, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said hospitals were “heaving”, putting the entire NHS at risk of “grinding to a halt”. She added that additional strain was coming from the reality that “we don’t have enough social care beds and social care facilities so patients can be looked after in more appropriate places.”
The Shadow Health secretary Andy Burnham also highlighted the issue of social care services, saying “we need more home-based care to keep older people supported at home and out of hospitals.”
Have you suffered due to A&E waiting times?
If negligent care within an A&E department has caused you to suffer further physical injury, you could be entitled to claim compensation. Get in touch with us at Glynns Solicitors to find out more.
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