Two thirds of trusts in England fail to meet new accident and emergency target

Nearly 70% of trusts in England failed to meet the government’s new target on assessing patients in accident and emergency (A&E) departments, show figures published on 26 August.

Of 178 trusts, 125 missed the target of assessing at least 95% of people within 15 minutes of their arrival at A&E, including emergency attendances at minor injuries units and walk-in centres. Nearly half of all trusts failed to assess patients within one hour.

The new data also show that an average of 7.5% of patients return to A&E departments within one week of being seen previously. The Department of Health suggests that only …