The four-hour A&E target is a sham. Hospitals are gaming the numbers and the ... trends now
Normally this column looks at a recent medical story that's made the headlines and I comment on whether you should trust it or not.
But this week I'm going to predict the news ? with a prediction that I'm so sure about, I'd even place a bet on it, if I were a betting man.
It's this: in the next few days, once the data has been collected, the Government will come out and say that, thanks to its policies, the situation in A&E is improving.
Despite estimates released yesterday by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine that soaring waits for A&E beds led to more than 250 needless deaths a week in England alone last year, the Government will point to declining numbers of patients who breached the four-hour target this March.
The four-hour target means we're meant to see and either discharge or admit patients within four hours of their arriving in A&E.
But let me tell you now: it's a sham. Because, for the past month, the four-hour data has been manipulated, the result of two policies introduced earlier in the month by the Government.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine revealed this week that soaring waits for A&E beds led to more than 250 needless deaths a week in England last year
NHS targets are in place so that patients are seen within four hours of arriving in A&E - but the resulting data is being manipulated, according to Professor Galloway
Rather than focusing on the patient, these two policies feel like the last throw of a desperate administration. And what's worse, this has all been aided and abetted by civil servants in NHS England whose job should be to do what's right for patients, not our political leaders.
The first policy took effect from March 1, when the Government arm-twisted hospital chief operating officers and chief executives to sign a form (later leaked to the Health Service Journal), stating that they would commit to delivering the four-hour target to 76 per cent of patients in A&E (by way of comparison, when it was first set 20 years ago, this target was 98 per cent).
Then, on March 12, a further letter was sent, stating that hospital trusts would 'be eligible for additional capital funding in 2024/25 of £2 million' if they were one of the top ten, or top ten improving, trusts in hitting the four-hour target up until March 31, 2024. The next ten trusts that show the greatest improvement get £1 million.
This is called The Capital Incentive Scheme, but that's just a fancy way of saying bribe. Essentially your hospital trust will get an extra £2 million to spend on a building if it's one of the best out of 124 acute trusts in England. That's 20 trusts getting £2 million each for improving your care. Sounds great, doesn't it?
The problem is that it shows that the Government's priority is about good headlines rather than good patient care.
And the reality is that ultimately you or your loved ones who need A&E may suffer because of these policies. Let me explain why.
There are two types of patients who come to A&E: the first are the relatively minor patients who walk in, with injured wrists, sore throats and such like. A long wait will be annoying for them, but it won't cause them much harm.
Rather than focusing on the patient, these two policies feel like the last throw of a desperate administration
Then there are those
