Best hospitals now seeing patients wait longer for key services

An analysis by The Nuffield Trust has shown that even the best hospitals in England are ‘now struggling to see patients’ because of pressures in the NHS.

The report looked at performance in six key areas including operations, accident and emergency, cancer and diagnostic tests, and found that although most patients were receiving appointments within the time targeted, even the top hospitals were seeing a decline in their performance.

The report said that the worst performing hospitals had seen most of the measures declining for a while, but more recently the top 10% of hospitals had seen a decline in their performance.

Holly Dornin, report co-author, said “We’ve known that hospitals have been struggling to meet the four-hour A&E target for a while.

“But the fact that we are starting to see problems in other areas, like access to planned treatment, is a real concern.

“As this study makes clear, warning lights are now starting to flash across the wider hospital system.”

A Department of Health spokesperson said “The NHS is busier than ever, as innovative treatments and medicines mean people are living longer with complex conditions like heart disease or diabetes.

“We’ve increased the NHS budget this Parliament, but ultimately we want to reduce pressure on services through our plans to increase access to primary care and look after people better in the community.”

Andy Burnham, shadow health secretary, said “The NHS has been thrown off course by (Prime Minister) David Cameron’s reorganisation, and it is now failing to deliver – leaving thousands of people without the standards of care they deserve.”

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of 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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