{"id":19450,"date":"2019-11-14T13:27:53","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T13:27:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=19450"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:54:53","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:54:53","slug":"nhs-crisis-ae-wait-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=19450","title":{"rendered":"Worst wait times on record"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Patients in England are facing the worst wait times since records began, with one in six patients having waited longer than four hours in A&E to be seen in October.<\/p>\n

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The latest figures represent the worst performance since 2004, when target wait times were first introduced, sparking fears over further chaos during what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s predicted to be the bleakest winter in decades.<\/p>\n

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Only 83.6 per cent of patients in accident and emergency units were treated or admitted within four hours, far below the 95 per cent target of what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s considered safe.<\/p>\n

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A record number of patients \u00e2\u20ac\u201c more than 4m at the end of September — were on waiting lists for non-emergency care.<\/p>\n

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A number of other key targets have been missed, with only 76 per cent of cancer patients starting treatment within 62 days \u00e2\u20ac\u201c again far below the 85 per cent target. This equates to one in four patients with cancer waiting more than three months to be treated.<\/p>\n

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Targets were first introduced under a Labour government 15 years ago, but have been missed each and every year for the last three years under a Tory-led government.<\/p>\n

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The devastating figures come just four weeks before the general election. A damning October poll<\/a> found that only 18 per cent of people trusted the Tories with the NHS, with Labour the most trusted party.<\/p>\n

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On Tuesday (November 12), Labour unveiled its rescue plan for the NHS,<\/a> which will plough \u00c2\u014126bn in real terms into the service over the next four years. The party proposed a number of measures as part of this funding, including \u00c2\u01411bn a year in training and education budgets to tackle staff shortages and a major \u00c2\u01411bn expansion of public health services.<\/p>\n

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The party\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plans were welcomed by a number of organisations, including the Nuffield Trust, which said that with the new money, the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bNHS could breathe a sigh of relief\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe extra money for investment in building and equipment is desperately needed and it is particularly encouraging to see some of this go towards general practice,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Nuffield Trust chief executive Nigel Edwards on Tuesday (November 12).<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA 4 per cent increase a year will make a big difference compared to the 1.4 per cent average the NHS has grown used to in recent years,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is enough to get most waiting times back on track over time\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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But responding to today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s latest wait time figures, Nuffield Trust chief economist Professor John Appleby warned that the NHS has reached breaking point.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe number of people waiting on trolleys in corridors because no beds are available has already hit 80,000 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c something we have only seen before in the very coldest part of the year. If this trend keeps going, I fear we could see 100,000 people stuck on trolleys this coming January,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese are not acceptable waits, both for people who need urgent help and for the staff who desperately want to treat them.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth slammed the Tories for what he said was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe worst NHS crisis on record\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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“Under Boris Johnson the NHS is in crisis and we’re heading for a winter of abject misery for patients,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he noted. “Our A&Es are overwhelmed, more so than ever. In every community there’s an ever growing queue of people waiting for treatment.<\/p>\n

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“The Tories spent a decade cutting over 15,000 beds. Now they should apologise to every patient languishing on a trolley and waiting longer for treatment.”<\/p>\n

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Unite national officer for health Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe agreed.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bToday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dire figures for the NHS in England on hospital waiting lists and the worst delays in A&E since 2004 are searing indictments of the Tories\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 austerity programme since 2010,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is clear that in cash terms the NHS is in \u00e2\u20ac\u0098intensive care\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and Boris Johnson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s claims to boost funding is an election mirage and can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hide the Tories\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 failure to sufficiently invest in the NHS.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLabour, which founded the NHS in 1948, has a coherent plan to increase spending on the NHS and nurse it back to financial health,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bDedicated NHS staff are being stretched to the limit because of the Tories failed stewardship of the NHS which remains the jewel in the crown of the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0 welfare system. \u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Patients in England are facing the worst wait times since records began, with one in six patients having waited longer than four hours in A&E to be seen in October.   The latest figures represent the worst performance since 2004, when target wait times were first introduced, sparking fears over further chaos during what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s predicted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[1115,29,1257,1258],"wps_subtitle":"Latest NHS figures show one in six patients left waiting more than 4 hours in A&E","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19450"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19450"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24865,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19450\/revisions\/24865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}