22
Dec 2020
NHS England divulges plans to change A&E waiting time target
NHS England have revealed plans to scrap the four-hour waiting time target for A&E patients in a critical shake-up, which is intended to reduce the amount of time spent in emergency departments.
The current measure, which requires 95 per cent of patients to be seen within four hours, will be substituted with a serious of new targets that have been backed by clinical leaders.
Under the new measures to monitor A&E performance, patients will need to be seen within 15 minutes of arrival for an initial assessment, and hospitals will be observed based on an average time in the department. If a patient is deemed to be required to be admitted, hospitals will need to record how many patients were admitted within an hour of it being “safe to do so”.
The percentage of patients waiting for longer than 12 hours, along with the percentage of ambulances able to hand over patients within 15 minutes, will also be monitored.
President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Katherine Henderson, said of the currently used four-hour waiting time target, whilst it had served the NHS well, it was no longer enough to force through clinical improvements.
She went on to say “We welcome the explicit recognition about the harms of overcrowding for patients attending emergency departments. These proposals will offer a better framework on which to improve care. The proposed metrics provide greater insight into the causes of delay and what we can do to improve care for all patients.”
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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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