Combined Performance Summary: August - September 2018

Our round-up of the latest key NHS performance data.

Qualitywatch

Latest data

Published: 11/10/2018

Today, NHS England published its Combined Performance Summary, which provides data on key performance measures for August and September of this year. Here we show some of these statistics and how they compare with previous years.

For interactive charts showing the quality of health and social care over time, please refer to our 200+ indicators.

Accident and Emergency

  • In September 2018, 11% of people attending A&E spent more than 4 hours from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge. This is over 7% higher than September of last year, and twice as high as it was six years ago.
  • Total A&E attendances exceeded 2 million in September 2018, which is 4% higher than the same month last year.
  • Emergency admissions via A&E have been increasing year-on-year, reaching over 386,000 in September 2018. This is 7% higher than in September last year.
  • 44,312 patients spent more than 4 hours waiting on a trolley from decision to admit to admission in September 2018. 153 patients had a trolley wait of over 12 hours, which is twice as high as the same month last year.
  • Only 123 out of 134 major A&E departments (type 1) met the four-hour A&E waiting time target in September 2018.

Total A&E attendances, Monthly data, NHS England

Emergency admissions via A&E, Monthly data, NHS England

Trolley waits: Patients spending >4 hours from decision to admit to admission, NHS England

A&E missed four hour target

Treatment and diagnostic test waiting times

  • The total number of people waiting to start consultant-led elective treatment exceeded 4.3 million in August 2018. This is the highest ever reported since referral-to-treatment data was first collected in August 2007.
  • The proportion of people waiting over 18 weeks to start elective treatment reached 12.8% in August 2018. The referral-to-treatment target has not been met since February 2016.
  • 3,407 people had been waiting over 52 weeks to start consultant-led elective treatment in August 2018.
  • In August 2018, 3.1% of patients had been waiting over 6 weeks for a diagnostic test. This is the worst level of performance since the diagnostic wait target was introduced in March 2008.

Trolley waits: Patients spending >4 hours from decision to admit to admission, NHS England

Elective and diagnostic waiting times

Delayed transfers of care

  • The total number of delayed transfer of care days was 145,617 in August 2018, which is 19% lower than in August 2017, but 5% higher than it was three months ago.

Delayed transfers of care

Cancer waiting times

  • In August 2018, 20.6% of patients had been waiting longer than two months to start their first treatment for cancer following a GP urgent referral.
  • The 62-day cancer target has only been met in one month over the last four years.
  • Alongside this there has been an increase in the number of cancer cases being referred, from 8,934 in August 2010 to 14,115 in August 2018.

Cancer waiting times

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