Four hour waiting time target at A&E should be downgraded, say experts

The ‘fixation’ with waiting time targets is distorting priorities and should be downgraded, according to the Nuffield Trust.

The call comes as one of the most problematic winters comes to an end, with the target being missed in all four parts of the UK. According to the think tank, this would mean that other problem areas, such as waits for beds and ambulance delays, could start to receive more attention and also be used to assess performance.

This is at a time when latest figures show that waits in A&E in England have worsened. In the last week 91.5% of patients were seen within four hours, which is down from 92% the previous week.

The Nuffield Trust also said that hospital management was spending too much effort and time in trying to meet targets, which was proving very difficult for some hospitals.

The target has been missed every week since September 2014, although excluding minor injury units and walk-in centres, targets have not been reached since July 2013.

Nigel Edwards, chief executive of Nuffield Trust, said “the four-hour target has come to loom over every other measure of how well patients with urgent needs are being cared for.

“Nobody denies that it really matters to people. But there are a lot of other things that matter in emergency healthcare.

“Politicians and regulators need to stop micro-managing this target and should instead examine how to put the four-hour target on an equal footing with other critical indicators.”

A spokesman from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said “The four-hour standard has reduced the amount of time patients spend in the emergency department, though it is clearly only one measure among many which should be used to measure the performance of departments.”

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), News lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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