Commenting on the statistics covering January published this morning by NHS England, Nigel Edwards, Chief Executive of the Nuffield Trust, said:
It’s disappointing that the proportion of patients seen within four hours in A&E in January was the lowest since the NHS started collecting the figures in 2010 – but not surprising given that almost 175,000 more people went to A&E than in the same month last year. Nigel Edwards, Nuffield Trust Chief Executive
“It’s disappointing that the proportion of patients seen within four hours in A&E in January was the lowest since the NHS started collecting the figures in 2010 – but not surprising given that almost 175,000 more people went to A&E than in the same month last year. When you combine these increased numbers with the fact that the NHS experienced the second highest number of delayed discharges from hospital in January, meaning that hospitals didn’t have enough free beds to admit patients as emergencies from A&E, it’s not surprising that A&E departments are finding it very difficult to see all their new patients in time to meet the four hour target.
“Our research last month (note 1) showed that because the traditional respite from pressure that the NHS used to experience in summer has all but disappeared, the Health Service is now entering each winter worse equipped to cope”.
Notes to editors
For more information, please contact Katherine Jarman or Kirsty Ridyard in the Nuffield Trust press office, on 020 7462 0555/0552.
- Winter pressures: what’s going on behind the scenes?, Nuffield Trust/Health Foundation, February 11th 2016.