Plans to scrap the four-hour A&E target have sparked a furious backlash from doctors and nurses, with some claiming it is driven by ministers’ desire to avoid negative publicity about patients facing increasingly long delays. They pointedly urged NHS leaders and ministers to concentrate on delivering the long-established maximum waiting time for emergency care rather than finding “ways around” it. Under the target, 95% of people arriving at A&E in England are meant to be treated and then discharged, admitted or transferred within four hours. “So far we’ve seen nothing to indicate that a viable replacement for the four-hour target exists and believe that testing [of alternatives to the target] should soon draw to a close,” said Dr Katherine Henderson, the president of the RCEM. It may recommend replacing both the four-hour target and the requirement that patients should receive non-urgent hospital treatment, mainly surgery, inside 18 weeks.

Source: The Guardian January 15, 2020 19:16 UTC