Provisional data shows an unprecedented number of patients spending longer than four hours waiting to be seen

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A&E patients in England experienced the worst month of delays in January since a four-hour target was introduced 13 years ago, leaked figures suggest.

Provisional data passed to the BBC says an unprecedented number of patients spent longer than the target time waiting to be seen in emergency wards in January.

It showed that more than 60,000 people waited between four and 12 hours for a hospital bed. And more than 780 waited more than 12 hours. Both figures are record highs since the introduction in 2004 of a target that 95% of patients must be seen and either admitted or discharged in under four hours.

The leaked document from NHS Improvement suggests that out of 1.4m visits in January, only 82% saw patients dealt with within the four-hour target.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Dr Tajek Hassan, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “The [four-hour] target is a very sophisticated metric of the overall system and the thermostat is set red hot in the emergency department.”

He added: “We are facing an incredible demand on our services. The dignity of care is significantly compromised. The international evidence shows that the more crowded your emergency departments are the higher the risk of dying. Delays to assessment will compromise your care.”

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The NHS Providers chief executive, Chris Hopson, said: “These figures have not been verified and should therefore be treated with caution, but they are in line with the feedback we have been getting from trusts.

“NHS staff have responded magnificently to increased winter pressures, but the situation has become unsustainable. The rise in long trolley waits is particularly worrying, as there is clear evidence they can lead to worse outcomes for patients.”

Hospitals have not hit the target nationally since the summer of 2015.

A Department of Health spokesman said the January data was yet to be verified and that official figures, released on Thursday morning, only covered December.

He said: “We do not recognise these figures – it is irresponsible to publish unverified data and does a disservice to all NHS staff working tirelessly to provide care around the clock.

“Despite the pressures of winter, the vast majority of patients are seen and treated quickly and hospitals have detailed plans in place to manage busy periods – supported by an extra £400m of funding.”

NHS performance against key waiting time targets was also poor in December as the “winter crisis” began to bite, the latest official figures from NHS England published on Thursday show.

Hospitals in England admitted, transferred or discharged only 86.2% of patients from an A&E unit within four hours – the worst-ever performance since records began in 2004.

Those delays occurred as hospitals came under the most intense pressure ever seen, with a record number of patients – 497,915 – needing to be admitted as an emergency. The number of people who waited more than four hours to be admitted in December after treatment in A&E – 61,727 – was also the highest ever seen, and well above the previous record of 53,640, seen in March 2016.

Ambulance response times were also far below target. In the eight regional ambulance trusts still using the long-established way of measuring performance, crews got to the scene of just 66.4% of Red 1 calls – life-threatening emergencies such as someone having stopped breathing or suffered a cardiac arrest – within the required eight minutes, when it should be at least 75%. Ambulance services last met the 75% target in May 2015.

Performance was even worse against the 75% target for responding to Red 2 calls, which includes strokes, fits and other life-threatening emergencies. Crews reached only 58.8% of such 999 callouts within eight minutes. Ambulance services last met the 75% target in January 2014.

Hospitals also breached waiting time targets covering patients’ speedy access to 15 different types of diagnostic tests, receipt of non-urgent hospital treatment within 18 weeks and urgent cancer treatment within 62 days.

The figures were “shocking”, said Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat former health minister. “These are the worst monthly figures since records began for waiting times,” he said. “More patients than ever spent over four hours in A&E. We even have ‘trolley nurses’ now expressly to deal with often seriously ill patients not receiving the treatment they need.”

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Labour accused the prime minister of displaying “utter disregard” for the NHS. Jon Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said: “Theresa May has lost control of the NHS this winter and patients are paying the price as target after target is missed and standards of care deteriorate. Experts are saying that standards are being pushed back 15 years or more.

“Behind each of these statistics is a patient suffering and in unacceptable discomfort. It’s making Theresa May’s utter disregard for the dire state of the NHS all the more disgraceful.”

Matthew Swindells, NHS England’s national director for operations and information, said: “NHS frontline services came under real pressure in December with A&E, ambulances and NHS 111 all helping record numbers of patients and callers. Despite these pressures, it is a tribute to the professionalism and dedication of doctors, nurses and other staff in A&E that they continue to see, treat, admit or discharge the vast majority of patients within four hours.”

NHS England pointed to the rapidly rising demand for care and the fact that there was a 41% increase in delays in patients being trapped in hospital, despite being fit to leave, because social care support was not available to allow their discharge.

Dr Mark Porter, chair of the British Medical Association council, said delays in A&E were a symptom of a bigger crisis in social care, which the government was failing to grasp.

“When social care isn’t available, patients experience delays in moving from hospital to appropriate ongoing care settings – preventing patients being admitted at the front end in A&E,” he said.

“The prime minister cannot continue to bury her head in the sand as care continues to worsen.”