NHS targets

The National Health Service measures how well it is doing by setting what are called targets. These are things that can be counted. The targets are changed over time. The targets, and how they are measured, are different in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. None of the targets covering A&E, cancer or waiting times for planned care have been met in the UK since 2016.

The target which gets most attention is the four-hour target in emergency departments. People should be seen, treated, and admitted to the hospital or sent home in under four hours. This was first measured in 2004. Since 2010 the number of people waiting more than 4 hours has gone up every year. July 2015 was the last month the target was met for 95% of patients in England. There were plans to change the target but in November 2022 it was to stay for at least 2 more years.

Percent of patients in English A&E departments waiting over 4 hours, monthly, 2011-2018

In December 2022 more than 54,500 patients waited over 12 hours in emergency departments in England after doctors decided they needed a hospital bed. That is the highest-ever number and almost treble the figure for May. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine found that people over 80 were spending 16 hours in emergency departments waiting for care or a bed. In 2021 it was 9 hours. Such long waits mean people are less likely to recover. In the winter of 2022/3 there were long delays when ambulances arrived at hospitals and attempted to hand patients over to emergency staff.

In January 2023 Rishi Sunak said he would improve ambulance performance so an average response time of 30 minutes for category 2 emergency calls such as heart attacks and strokes would be met in 2023/24. In December, patients waited over 90 minutes. The official target is 18 minutes.