The percentage of A&E patients being treated within the four-hour target period has reached a record low, prompting senior doctors to take the unprecedented step of urging patients to write to their MPs about the “serious” challenges facing the NHS.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine said warnings and pleas for adequate funding had failed to deliver. Its president, Dr Taj Hassan, called on patients to send letters to their MPs to ask for action to address the problems facing A&E departments.
“Performance that once would have been regarded as utterly unacceptable has now become normal and things are seemingly only getting worse for patients,” he said.
The senior doctor’s warning comes as the latest NHS figures show the worst ever four-hour emergency care performance at just 76.9% at major emergency departments – the lowest since records began and well below the 95% target covering all types of urgent and emergency care.
Data released on Thursday, in the last daily reports that will be released this winter, also showed that in February bed occupancy was at 95.2%, over the recommended safe level of 85%.
Patients are suffering because hospitals are unable to treat anywhere near the 95% of A&E arrivals they are supposed to, senior doctors have said. Hassan said the figures were not surprising and reflected the impact of insufficient resources.
“It’s important to remember that while performance issues are more pronounced during the winter, emergency departments are now struggling all year round,” he said.
His words were echoed by Sue Crossland, the vice-president of the Society for Acute Medicine, who said that efforts made by staff to cope this winter could not continue without major risks to their wellbeing and to the quality of patient care.
“While it is laudable for the prime minister to acknowledge how hard people are working, we cannot let this hide the massive issues in the NHS this winter has uncovered,” she said.
NHS England said staff were faced with working in a “perfect storm” of appalling weather, persistently high flu hospitalisations and a renewed spike in norovirus.
A spokesman said that despite the challenging conditions, the NHS treated 160,000 more A&E patients within four hours this winter compared with the previous year.
Over the course of the winter more than 186,000 patients waited at least 30 minutes in an ambulance or on a hospital corridor before being admitted to A&E. Of those 41,879 waited an hour or more.
Jonathan
Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, called for an inquiry to be set up to examine the pressure hospitals have been under over the past few months. “The government has let NHS patients down … Every year under this government waiting times get worse and more and more patients face hours on end in overcrowded emergency departments.”
He said that ministers were warned about the crisis and Labour had
called for a £500m winter fund that was not provided, resulting in “the worst ever outcomes for patients”.
“Ministers should take some responsibility and apologise to NHS
patients and their families,” Ashworth said.
