There is no “viable replacement” for the NHS’s four-hour A&E target, a clinicians’ organisation has warned, following suggestions from the health secretary that the standard could be scrapped.
The worst performance figures for emergency departments since records began show the new government must act quickly to protect the service as winter advances.
Different methods of measuring hospital waiting times are hiding the scale of pressure on NHS emergency departments, according to the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.
Potentially avoidable ailments like chest infections, pressure sores and urinary tract infections accounted for 41% of hospital admissions in England in 2016-17.
Problems in A&E departments can not be solved by more re-organisation - misconceptions about emergency healthcare must be acknowledged first, says Imperial College London’s Nick Bosanquet.
