Spring brings little respite for A&E departments in England

The beginning of spring has brought little respite for the Accident & Emergency departments in England, with one in seven patients waiting for longer than the four hour target in March, which was only a very slight improvement on the situation during the winter.

This news comes following increasing concern about the pressure in cancer care, which shows that during the winter, nearly one in four patients waited for longer than they should.

The Society of Acute Medicine’s Dr Nick Scriven, said “This has been and continues to be an extremely challenging time for urgent care in the NHS, which has been overlooked amid the chaos of Brexit and the smokescreen it has created.

He also warned that things could get worse, even though we had seen the end of the winter months.

“My major imminent concern is that hospitals are working flat out at the moment and we have a looming spell of bank holidays, when many support services will not be functioning, heaping up the already relentless pressure.”

This warning coincides with new plans by the NHS to scrap the four hour A&E waiting target in England, linked to the belief by leaders of the health service that the target is outdated and distorts priorities due to the fact that it does not differentiate between those with major and minor ailments.

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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