Departing NHSE boss ‘calls out’ A&E variation

NHS England’s outgoing chief operating officer has claimed there is too much unwarranted variation in the service’s emergency care performance.

Dame Emily Lawson made the comment at last week’s NHSE board meeting ahead of her departure from the organisation yesterday.

She told the board that she “wanted to call out variability” in the spread of 12-hour A&E waits across the county.

Dame Emily said: “If we look at the last six months of data, 17.6 per cent of trusts have deteriorated in 12-hour breaches, 25.8 per cent have improved, and the rest have sustained their 12-hour performance.

“When we look at headline numbers, we often miss both the improvement that’s going on, but also some of the tensions that are happening and needing to be managed locally.”

Dame Emily added that emergency care “still has some opportunity” to improve its productivity, adding that long A&E waits for people in mental health crisis “remain too common”.

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Source: HSJ, 1 April 2025