Report into how A&E waiting times last winter were the worst in ten years
- Sep 3, 2015
- EmmaArnold
A new report from Monitor which asks 'Why did patients wait longer in A&E last winter?' was published today.
As the sector regulator for health services, Monitor aims to make the health sector work better for patients.
The report identified key national causes of the delays in A&E last winter as 91% of trust did not meet the A&E four-hour maximum waiting time.
There were lots of theories which tried to explain why so many trusts failed to meet the waiting times which the report looked into.As last winter marked the worst performance in ten years, Monitor found the problem didn't lie with the A&E departments but at other points in the health and social care systems.
Monitor found other hospital departments had higher rates of occupancy which was the main national cause of longer waiting times.
The report also found more people were admitted to hospital from A&E and more arrived by ambulance which led to longer waits as these patients are usually seen first.
This infographic has been created which condenses the report and points out the findings at a glance.
Hannah Bottomley, Assistant Solicitor at PotterReesDolan, said:
A very interesting and perhaps showing graphic demonstrating clearly, by reference to data obtained from NHS Trusts nationally, the cause of increased waiting times in A&E. Perhaps this winter, less criticism will be placed against the A&E departments and, instead, hospitals and Trusts nationally will try and focus on the issue of increased capacity on in-patient wards.
We previously wrote how the NHS had missed the four-hour waiting time target but then results improved during the summer months.