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Peter Black and South Wales West Liberal DemocratsRepresenting Aberavon, Bridgend, Gower, Neath, Ogmore, Port Talbot, and Swansea |
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2,600 people wait more than eight hours in A&E
February 18, 2010 12:00 AM
Statistics released by the Welsh Assembly Government today show that one in twenty patients attending major accident and emergency departments in Wales had to wait longer than eight hours for treatment, and 17% had to wait longer than four hours during January of this year.
The statistic show that in January this year 5.2% of those who attended a Major A&E Department waited more than eight hours before being admitted, transferred or discharged, and that 16.8% had to wait more than four hours. Government targets state that 95% of patients should be seen within four hours and 99% within eight hours. No Health Board in Wales met either of these targets. There were a total of 51,199 A&E attendances that month, meaning 2,662 individuals waited longer than eight hours and 8,601 more than four hours.
Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Minister, Peter Black AM, said:
"I do not understand how performance for the month was so poor, despite it being the quietest month of the year. January 2010 was simultaneously the worst performing month and the quietest month since January 2009.
"These statistics stop measuring how long someone has to wait after eight hours. Who knows exactly how long some of the 2,600 people affected had to wait in reality.
"I have heard reports of accident and emergency departments being forced to operate below recommended staffing levels and the rise in waiting times is a consequence of this. There has to be leadership from the government on this issue and less of the NHS budget should be spent on managers and bureaucrats and more on putting doctors and nurses in our hospitals to treat patients and lower waiting times."
Stats can be found here:
http://wales.gov.uk/topics/statistics/headlines/health2010/0218/?lang=en