Letters
Four hour emergency target
Targets still lead care in emergency departments
BMJ 2010; 341 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.c3579 (Published 06 July 2010) Cite this as: BMJ 2010;341:c3579
- Suzanne Mason, director1,
- Jon Nicholl, director of research and deputy dean2,
- Thomas Locker, consultant in emergency medicine3
- 1Health Services Research, School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR), University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 4DA
- 2Medical Care Research Unit, Health Services Research, School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR)
- 3Barnsley District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Barnsley S75 2EP
- s.mason{at}sheffield.ac.uk
The UK four hour standard for processing patients attending emergency departments was introduced at 90% in 2004 and has sat at 98% since 2005. We have shown that the effect of the target is not uniform—patients admitted to hospital from the emergency department were affected most by a “spike” in activity during the …
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