Many waiting time targets still being missed by NHS in England

Official figures released by NHS England have shown that for the month of November, many waiting time targets were missed by hospitals in England.

Key targets missed included cancer services, ambulances and the 111 telephone service, with A&E departments only seeing 91.3% of patients within the four hour waiting time target, which is the worst performance for November since records began five years previously.

The six week target for diagnostic tests was also missed, marking two years since the target was last met.

The number of delays in discharging patients from hospital was also the second highest on record.

NHS England’s Richard Barker, said that the information need to be looked at alongside the increasing numbers of patients requiring care, with particularly large increases in the numbers of patients needing ambulances, diagnostic tests, and calling the 111 telephone service.

He added “We continue to treat more than nine out of 10 A&E patients within four hours, probably the best performance of any major western country.”

However, chief executive of the Nuffield Trust Nigel Edwards, said “These new figures are particularly worrying given that they only cover November, when the weather was exceptionally mild and winter had not even properly begun – the fact that there have been such dips on performance so early in the season does not leave the health service in a good position to cope with the rest of winter.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Paralegal, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (karenmotley@chadlaw.co.uk ), Medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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