NHS England gives green light to scrap four-hour A&E target

NHS England is pushing ahead with plans to replace the NHS’s four-hour emergency target with a new set of 10 metrics, it has announced today.

The announcement follows a consultation launched in December on its latest proposals, although any final plans will still require government signoff (see box below for the 10 new metrics).

NHSE/I said in a press release: “In an NHS consultation four out of five respondents said they would welcome a bundle of measures. The specific proposals were endorsed by two thirds, 67%, of respondents and opposed by just 13%.”

However, NHSE/I said in a report on the proposals that it had not yet been established how the new basket of metrics would be used as a performance measure and that the proposals still needed government sign-off.

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Source: HSJ, 26 May 2021