Rush to beat target

10-minute dash in A&E as treatment deadline nears

THE speed at which patients are dealt with at their local accident and emergency department varies greatly depending on where they live.

A report by the NHS Information Centre shows that three quarters of patients are seen within three hours — an hour ahead of the government’s four-hour target.

But the number of patients leaving accident and emergency per minute increases as the four-hour deadline approaches.

Statistics show a marked peak in the 10 minutes before the deadline, when 6 per cent of all attendances nationally are dealt with.

But there is a wide variation — ranging from zero in Kent, Shrewsbury and Telford to 15 per cent in Cambridge.

In Oldham, 5 per cent of patients were seen in the last 10 minutes of a four-hour wait between April, 2007, and March, 2008, compared to a 5.7 per cent national average.

The report also shows that the percentage of patients who are admitted to hospital from accident and emergency peaks in the last 10 minutes before the four-hour cut-off, when 66 per cent are admitted, compared with 21 per cent overall.

The report is the NHS Information Centre’s most detailed analysis of the way hospitals process patients through accident and emergency.

It is the first time such analysis has been done and the statistics are categorised as experimental.

The NHS Information Centre’s chief executive Tim Straughan said: “This report gives a valuable, minute by minute insight into patients’ experience of accident and emergency services and highlights a marked variation in both the speed of care and the destination of patients when they leave the department.

“With data at individual trust level, accident and emergency departments may want to compare how their approach varies with others as there are marked differences from place to place.”