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06/12/2012
CQC Find A&E Waiting Time Getting Longer
Results of a new survey by the health regulator reveal that waiting times are getting longer at NHS accident and emergency departments in England.
Government targets say no more than 5% of patients should breach the four-hour limit.
However, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) survey showed 33% of people spent more than four hours in A&E – up from 27% in 2008.
The CQC spoke to 46,000 patients between January and March 2012.
A third of those surveyed also said they waited more than half an hour before they were seen by a doctor or a nurse, up from 29% in 2008 and 24% in 2004.
David Behan, the chief executive of the CQC, said: "The important issue is that people who need to be treated urgently, do not have to wait, it is disappointing therefore that people have said they have to wait longer to be treated than four years ago.
"People should be seen, diagnosed, treated and admitted or discharged as quickly as possible and this is an issue that trusts need to urgently tackle."
The regulator also said there needed to be improvements in getting people to hospital as 24% of people taken by ambulance had to wait more than 15 minutes to be transferred to A&E.
The Patients Association said delays in A&E and in ambulances were worrying. Its chief executive Katherine Murphy said: "With rising admissions and shrinking budgets urgent action is needed by the government to prevent A&E departments becoming bottlenecks."
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Government targets say no more than 5% of patients should breach the four-hour limit.
However, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) survey showed 33% of people spent more than four hours in A&E – up from 27% in 2008.
The CQC spoke to 46,000 patients between January and March 2012.
A third of those surveyed also said they waited more than half an hour before they were seen by a doctor or a nurse, up from 29% in 2008 and 24% in 2004.
David Behan, the chief executive of the CQC, said: "The important issue is that people who need to be treated urgently, do not have to wait, it is disappointing therefore that people have said they have to wait longer to be treated than four years ago.
"People should be seen, diagnosed, treated and admitted or discharged as quickly as possible and this is an issue that trusts need to urgently tackle."
The regulator also said there needed to be improvements in getting people to hospital as 24% of people taken by ambulance had to wait more than 15 minutes to be transferred to A&E.
The Patients Association said delays in A&E and in ambulances were worrying. Its chief executive Katherine Murphy said: "With rising admissions and shrinking budgets urgent action is needed by the government to prevent A&E departments becoming bottlenecks."
)H_
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