Performance slips despite immense efforts by trusts
12 October 2017
NHS England has published combined performance figures for August 2017 and A&E performance figures for September 2017.
The figures show:
- The NHS missed its A&E target to return to 90% by September this year, with a view to the majority of trusts returning to 95% by March 2018.
- The rate of delayed transfers of care remains stable but is unlikely to have improved enough to meet the 3.5% target for September.
- The Referral to Treatment Time (RTT) performance against the 92% target has slipped to 89.4% - the lowest level in five years.
Responding to the monthly performance statistics from NHS England, the chief executive of NHS Providers, Chris Hopson said:
“These figures reveal the scale of the challenge trusts face as they attempt to recover performance against the four-hour waiting target in A & E – a key priority for the NHS.
“There are three stages to this: first to hit 90% by September this year, then to have the majority of trusts reaching 95% by March 2018, with the overall figure back to 95% by the end of next year.
“Trusts and their staff have made immense efforts to improve performance.
“However the figure for September was 89.7% so we have missed the first of the three markers. That does not bode well for recovering performance to the required standard in the months ahead.
The figure for September was 89.7% so we have missed the first of the three markers. That does not bode well for recovering performance to the required standard in the months ahead.
“It is also disappointing that delayed transfers of care (DTOCs) for patients who are medically fit to move on remain stable, rather than showing the fast improvement that will be needed to hit the DTOC target rate of 3.5% by September.
“This raises further concerns that as winter starts to bite, trusts will lack the capacity – in terms of staff and beds – to provide the safe, high quality care that patients deserve.
“It is also notable that performance against the 18-week standard for routine operations has slipped to its lowest level for more than five years.”