A&E waiting times reach nine-year high
Figures from the King’s Fund show that nearly 6 per cent of patients waited for four hours or longer in accident and emergency in the final quarter of last year.
It is an increase of more than a third on the previous three months, and of nearly 40 per cent since the same quarter in the previous year.
The monitoring report from the King’s Fund showed that in the final quarter of 2012/13, 5.9 per cent of patients (313,000 people) waited for four hours or longer in A&E – the highest level since 2004.
This is an increase of more than a third on the previous three months, and of nearly 40 per cent since the same quarter the previous year.
It means that the government’s target that no more than 5 per cent of patients should wait for more than four hours has been broken for the first time since June 2011, when it pledged to keep waiting levels low.
Worrying
John Appleby, chief economist at the King’s Fund, said: “Emergency care acts as a barometer for the NHS. The worryingly high number of patients waiting longer than four hours in the last quarter of 2012/13 is a clear warning sign that the health system is under severe strain.
“The pressures in emergency care will not be relieved by focusing on a single aspect of the problem in isolation – it requires a co-ordinated response across the whole health system.
‘While the NHS is in a healthy financial position overall, efficiencies are becoming harder to deliver as one-off savings such as cuts in management costs start to slow. This is compounded by the need to maintain staffing levels following the shocking failures of care highlighted by the Francis report.
“With staff costs making up the bulk of the NHS budget, this will leave little room for manoeuvre – significant changes to services will be required if the NHS is to meet its target of delivering £20 bn in efficiency savings.”
It follows a report that operations are regularly cancelled and led to an angry tweet from shadow health secretary Andy Burnham.
Waiting times breached
Nearly 40 per cent of trusts reported that they breached the waiting time target in the last quarter. The King’s Fund also said that the proportion of patients waiting more than four hours before being admitted to hospital from A&E has risen to nearly 7 per cent – again, the highest level since 2004.
The charity said the analysis shows the “severe strain on emergency care in early 2013” and that there is a risk the same thing could happen next winter.
However, a spokeswoman for the King’s Fund said: “Despite the pressures in emergency care, other NHS performance measures are continuing to hold up well. Waiting times for referral to treatment in hospital, the number of health care-acquired infections and delays in transferring patients out of hospital all remain stable.”
A survey of NHS finance directors also conducted by the King’s Fund found that the NHS is set to end the 2012/13 period in a healthy financial position, but that the outlook for the following two years is bleak.