Official data masking long waits for the sickest patients

Several trusts are failing to admit their sickest emergency patients in a timely fashion, despite performing well in official waiting time statistics, HSJ can reveal. 

The internal NHS England data, obtained via a Freedom of Information request, reveals 12 trusts which have performed above the average against the four-hour accident and emergency target are delivering relatively poor waiting times for patients who require admission, as opposed to those who, for example, can be discharged after being seen. 

The unpublished provisional data shows an average of just 30% of admitted patients in England spend four hours or less in A&E against the 95% target.

But many trusts are falling significantly below this – including those trusts at or around NHSE’s interim target of 76% for four hours performance for all patients by March 2024.

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Source: HSJ, 24 November 2023