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Hospitals take short term measures to meet targets

London Susan Mayor

Two thirds of accident and emergency (A&E) departments in England put in place temporary measures during a recent monitoring week so that they appeared to meet the government’s waiting time target of four hours, a BMA survey has found.

Preliminary results from the first 100 A&E consultants from a total of 500 who were sent a questionnaire showed that more than half (56%) had used temporary medical and nursing agency staff to reduce patient waiting times during the monitoring week. One in four consultants (25%) reported that their departments had allowed staff to work double or extended shifts at this time.

Nearly one in six (14%) survey respondents said that routine surgery had been cancelled to make extra beds available to admit patients arriving through A&E departments.

The survey findings showed the perverse effects that can result from the way in which government targets are measured.

A&E . . . [Full text of this article]

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