Hospitals have been reporting over the past few years of the immense pressure on their A&E services; government has responded with the promise of more resources and yet the situation isn’t getting any better. In fact, recent statistics show that, if anything, it’s getting worse.
The BBC reported on 18th October that the rate of failure to meet the 4 hour target for being seen in the A&E department actually more than doubled over the past four years, with one in nine patients waiting longer than that (from 5% to 11%).
It’s not only in A&E where hospitals are struggling to keep to time targets. There’s also been an increase in missed targets in 62 day cancer care (20% of patients wait longer) and for planned operations and treatment (12% of patients wait longer than they should).
Overall, in England in 2012/2013 these key targets were met 86% of the time; in 2016/2017 this has dropped to 0%. In Wales this was 0% for both periods. The North East of England is the top performing region with key time targets having been met in 71% of cases in the past year. Even this is 15% down on the previous performance in England in 2012/13. These are worrying figures.
Converting this to patient numbers – there are 500,000 patients on hospital waiting lists who shouldn’t be there compared to 230,000 four years ago. And even 230,000 is not a reassuring number!
So why is this? There are many factors involved but it is obvious that there is increased demand on the health service particularly with an ageing population with complex care needs. Patients are attending A&E as they can’t see a GP soon enough; there are not enough doctors and nurses; lack of hospital beds, and patients who are fit for discharge being kept in due to lack of social care resources.
Unsurprisingly, the Chairman of the BMA Dr Chaand Nagpaul, describes the situation as “unacceptable”.
A spokesman for the Department of Health in England said that more money was being spent on services and despite the rise in waiting times the majority of hospitals were still providing ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ care according to inspectors.
A Welsh government spokesman acknowledged the situation but also pointed out the increased demand being faced.
We receive many enquiries from members of the public who feel they have been let down by the health service due to delays in diagnosis and treatment. In some cases, the consequences are devastating; particularly when medical negligence has led to the seriousness of the patient’s condition not being appreciated when there has been inadequate history taking and examination in the pressurised environment of the A&E department.
Changes don’t happen overnight but the downward trend is concerning.
The impact of this A&E negligence both from a physical and mental perspective can be devastating to you and your loved ones, at Jackson Lees we understand this, we will do all we can to help you through this difficult time and to enable you to achieve the outcome you deserve.
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