A&E figures may need recalculation after UK Statistics Authority they could lead to 'misleading conclusions'

A&E statistics may have to be recalculated after the UK Statistics Authority said changes in the recording method could lead to “misleading conclusions”.

The current target requires hospitals to have treated, assessed or discharged patients who enter the emergency department within four hours.

It has now been revealed that performance figures have also included minor injuries or care centres, some of which are not even on the same site as the hospital.

At these centres patients tend to be treated much more quickly, therefore bringing the average of patients missing the target down.

The UK Statistics Authority has now written to NHS England asking them to explain the changes in the recording method.

An email, seen by the BBC, from NHS Improvement, the body in charge of overseeing trusts, encouraged including minor injuries or care centres in the figures.

“There is an urgent activity undertaken by a walk-in centre or urgent treatment centre or other provider within your local delivery board that currently is not reporting activity - we can work with you to apportion the activity to the main provider,” the email said.

Analysis by the BBC showed several trusts had improved their performance figures by adding walk-in centres, which were not on site, to their statistics.

Dr Taj Hassan, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: "The changes that are understood to have been made to recording practice throw doubt on whether the scale of the crisis facing emergency medicine - made so clear in December's data - is actually greater than first thought."

An NHS Improvement official said it intended to ensure that all trusts were reporting in the same way and not "to artificially inflate A&E performance figures."