A&E departments suffer their worst November performance on record

Accident and Emergency departments have had their worst November performance on record, stoking fears that the NHS is facing a major winter crisis.

Official figures show just 87.6 per cent of patients were seen within four hours, against a target of 95 per cent.

It has not been hit since July 2015.

The statistics show that more than 54,000 people had to wait longer for treatment, including more than 250 forced to wait 12 hours or more on a trolley.

It comes as the first weekly winter figures show that last week, 25 A&E departments were forced to divert ambulances elsewhere.

A review of NHS targets is considering whether it should be altered, with minor injuries excluded from assessments.

But senior A&E doctors oppose the idea, which has provoked criticism that it is simply an attempt to help ensure targets can be met.

A 10 year plan for the NHS is due to be announced shortly, which will set out how a £20bn spending boost will be used.  However, health policy experts fear that simply getting the health service to meet existing targets would soak up most of the money.

Last winter saw the highest death toll in more than 40 years after the failure of last year’s flu jab.

There were an estimated 50,100 excess winter deaths in England and Wales in 2017/18 - the highest recorded since winter 1975/76, figures from the Office for National Statistics show.

Health officials are concerned about low take-up of vaccines this year, and say the new jab should be a good match for the main strain in circulation this year.

Jonathan Ashworth, shadow health secretary, said: “Winter is only just beginning for our NHS and these are hugely concerning figures that don’t bode well for the difficult weeks ahead.

“While Government remains paralysed by Brexit infighting, the NHS is struggling as a result of years of underfunding, cuts and staffing shortages. Rather than their self-interest, Tory ministers must start prioritising patients’ interests by outlining proposals for the NHS this winter.

“It would be totally unforgivable if patients suffered another winter crisis like the ones we’ve seen in recent years.

“Patients will expect the imminent NHS plan to have a clear credible solution to chronic understaffing and a roadmap for restoring performance that has so unacceptably deteriorated in recent years.”

An NHS spokesman said:  “NHS staff continue to work hard to deal with increased demand across the board, seeing 1,000 more people within four hours in A&E every day in November compared to last year

The performance statistics released by NHS England show there were 2.04 million attendances last month - fewer than the 2.08 million seen in October.

But more people had to wait longer, with 258 patients waiting more than 12 hours from decision to admit to admission, while 54,373 had to wait longer than four hours.

The figures for November come after health leaders warned this winter could see hundreds of thousands of patients stranded in cramped corridors on hospital trolleys waiting for a bed.

Dr Rob Harwood, chairman of the British Medical Association's consultant committee, said last week that this winter "could be the worst on record" for emergency departments, predicting a rise in the number of A&E attendances, longer waits and more people needing hospital admissions.

The doctors' union said that in order to keep bed occupancy at safe levels over winter, hospitals need to boost capacity.