A&E waiting times

26 April 2017

What was claimed

More people are waiting more than four hours to be seen in A&E since the Conservatives took power.

Our verdict

The number of people waiting four hours in all types of A&E in England in 2015/16 is higher than in 2010/11. More people are going to A&E but the percentage of people seen within four hours has also fallen.

"With more people waiting more than four hours in A&E..."

Jeremy Corbyn, 26 April 2017

More people in England waited more than four hours to be seen in A&E in 2015/16 than did in 2010/11. While the number of A&E patients has increased since 2010, the share of people seen within four hours has also gone down.

In 2015/16 about 1.9 million attendances took more than four hours to be dealt with in all types of A&E departments in England. In 2010/11 around 560,000 waited more than four hours.

There are more attendances at A&E—there were about 21.4 million attendances to all A&Es in England in 2010/11, compared to roughly 22.9 million in 2015/16.

So more people—about 240,00 more—were seen within four hours in 2015/16 than in 2010/11.

ae graph first used jan 11 2017_rgDGsK5.png

But the percentage of people seen within four hours has fallen. In 2015/16 92% of those who went to A&E in England were seen within four hours. 97% were seen within that time in 2010/11.

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