03.04.13
A&E target continues to be missed
The NHS has failed to meet the A&E target of dealing with 95% of patients within four hours, Department of Health figures show.
The target has been missed in each of the last nine weeks, with only 93.3% of patients seen within this target in the week ending March 24.
Labour highlighted that as a whole hospitals offering consultant-led A&E care, so-called type 1 A&E departments, which treat more than 60% of all emergency patients, have not met the target for 26 consecutive weeks.
But the DH said 96% of patients have been dealt with within the required four hours at all three types of A&E centres since April 2012.
Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “These figures are yet more proof of a system running at capacity, and patients are suffering as a result. Our members are regularly telling us that pressure on the system is rising while staffing levels fall, and as a result any increase in demand results in unacceptable waits for patients who are already going through a difficult time.”
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