A&E waits for January 'worst ever'

Record numbers of patients spent more than four hours in accident and emergency units in England in January, figures leaked to the BBC suggest.



During a difficult winter for the NHS, January appears to be the worst performing month in the past 13 years.

The figures also suggest record numbers of people waited longer than 12 hours for a hospital bed once seen in A&E.

The BMA said the prime minister could no longer "bury her head in the sand" over increasing pressure in the NHS.

And it accused the government of failing to grasp the seriousness of the situation.

But a spokesman from the Department of Health said the vast majority of patients were seen and treated quickly, and busy periods in hospitals were supported by an extra £400 million of funding.

The figures come from a document compiled by NHS Improvement, a regulator in England.

It appears to show that from a total of more than 1.4 million attendances at A&E during January:

• 82% of patients in A&E - rather than the target 95% - were transferred, admitted or discharged within four hours
  
• More than 60,000 people waited between four and 12 hours in A&E for a hospital bed, after a decision to admit, known as a "trolley wait"
  
• More than 780 people waited for more than 12 hours for a bed

It comes as official NHS figures for December show that 86.2% of A&E patients in England were dealt with in under four hours.

December A&E figures for Scotland are much higher at 92.6% while Wales and Northern Ireland's figures are lower than England's.

January's leaked figures for England are provisionally the worst monthly figures on record since the four-hour target was introduced in 2004.

The situation in England has worsened since last January when more than 51,000 people had "trolley waits" of between four and 12 hours in A&E and 158 people had waits of more than 12 hours.

I'm amazed that anyone thinks four hours is an acceptable wait for emergency treatment?

I'm amazed that anyone thinks four hours is an acceptable wait for emergency treatment?

I don't think that actually happens Dutchman. Cases are assessed as they arrive and the true emergency cases are seen first. It's a military style of triage in operation. At least that's certainly been my and my family's experience.

Mum was rushed in before Christmas with a suspected stroke. She was seen on arrival and it was decided that she hadn't had a stroke. She then had to wait a little while before being referred to another department as an out patient and discharged.

Mrs R was taken in a while back with a dislocated elbow. She was also seen immediately and the decision was taken to correct the problem very quickly. She was treated by the doctor within about 15 minutes. But, she wasn't discharged within the specified time as she'd had a general anaesthetic and it took her some time to come round sufficiently to be allowed home. The charge nurse did jokingly say that she was b*ggering up his day's figures.

Whilst the headline figures don't always look too good, there is a lot of political point scoring going on with the NHS.

Waiting times at University Hospital at worst levels since records began

Waiting times at University Hospital are the worst since recent records began.

The Walsgrave hospital has said sorry after it emerged that more than a fifth of patients spent over four hours from admission to being discharged in December.

That’s the trust’s worst performance since the measure went monthly in June 2015, and potentially its worst performance ever.

In December 2015 87.4 per cent of patients were discharged in four hours but by November last year the figure was 81.3 per cent.

The record-low December figure was just 79.5 per cent.

A spokesperson for University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust said: “We continue to experience high demand for our accident and emergency services, which reflects the national picture and is typical for this time of year.

“These are not the standards which we would like to deliver for our patients, and we would like to apologise to anyone who has experienced delays.

“We are working hard work with the ambulance service, neighbouring trusts and local GPs to manage demand across Coventry and Warwickshire.

“We would like to remind the public to consider which NHS services they use so that we can help manage the pressure on our emergency services.”

South Warwickshire also failed to meet the 95 per cent target, with their four hour discharge rate at 93.2 per cent, down from 93.5 per cent in December 2015.

I'm amazed that anyone thinks four hours is an acceptable wait for emergency treatment?

I don't think that actually happens Dutchman. Cases are assessed as they arrive and the true emergency cases are seen first. It's a military style of triage in operation. At least that's certainly been my and my family's experience.

A lady friend of mine was rushed to York hospital the other week with suspected heart failure and spent five and a half hours on a trolley in a corridor while hooked-up to a heart machine before she got to see a doctor. To their credit the paramedics never left her side but that meant their ambulance was also unavailable to other patients for the whole five and a half hours.

This was during the recent spell of fine weather, I can only imagine the carnage when the winter finally strikes.