27.02.15
A&E waiting time target in England missed for 21st week in a row
A&E departments in England have failed to meet the target of 95% of patients seen within four hours for 21 straight weeks.
NHS England figures show that 92% of patients spent four hours or less from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge in the week ending February 22, an increase from 91.6% a week earlier.
The improved waiting times coincided with a drop in A&E attendances to 406,200.
Barbara Hakin, the national director of commissioning operations for NHS England, said: “A&E departments continue to experience high levels of demand, but we saw a slight improvement in performance this week.”
Last week also saw the level of emergency admissions drop to 104,800 from 107,200 the previous week.
Delayed transfers of care, sometimes called ‘bed blocking’, was also down slightly, with 3,900 hospitals beds unavailable because of delays in transfers of occupants to care elsewhere, compared with 4,000 the previous week.
(Image source: Rui Vieira/PA Wire)
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