NHS performance and satisfaction

Election 2017: what the parties haven’t told voters

Full Fact factchecks what the parties do say. Often what they haven't said matters even more.

What is the NHS?

The NHS stands for the National Health Service: Government-funded health care and medical services that everyone in the UK can use without being asked to pay the full cost.

Is the NHS in crisis?

The Nuffield Trust looks into access to money, the people and the patients.

Are there one million people in hospital with nowhere else to go?

We’ve asked for the source of this claim, but it seems to be incorrect.

A&E waiting times

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.

Cancer care waiting times

An NHS target for the proportion of cancer patients being treated within 62 days of referral is being missed. In January the proportion meeting the target was the lowest since it was introduced in 2009. The rest of the targets were all hit.

Hospitals: safety versus quality

The Prime Minister and leader of the opposition clashed over the number of hospitals which are unsafe and how many are good or outstanding during Prime Minister’s Questions. We factchecked their claims.

A&E in England has never been busier

There were 2.5 million more attendances at English A&Es in 2016 compared with 2010.

Are patients going to A&E instead of GPs?

It was estimated in 2010 that between 10% and 30% of cases attending A&E were of a type that could be seen by a GP.

How many hospital black alerts were there this week?

Media reports say that 23 hospital trusts in England have reached the highest level on the NHS’s system for saying whether they are under pressure, or are otherwise under serious strain. We don’t have official figures on this yet.

Four million on hospital waiting lists

At least 3.7 million patient referrals in England were waiting to receive non-emergency treatment as of November 2016. It may be as high as 3.9 million.

A&E waiting times: better or worse?

More patients are being seen within four hours at A&E departments, but the percentage of visits processed within that time has been falling.

How many patients die from thirst or starvation?

Roughly one patient every three or four days died as a direct result of malnutrition or dehydration in NHS and non-NHS hospitals in England and Wales across 2015.

Is half of the NHS not clinically qualified?

51% of people working for the NHS are clinically qualified. Looking at it another way, that’s 53% of full-time equivalents.

Have NHS waiting times got better or worse? Pick your measure

Have NHS waiting times got better or worse in the last few years? It depends which measure you're looking at.

NHS waiting times: one of three 18-week targets has been missed in 10 of 12 months

The NHS has missed one of its 18 week waiting time targets in 10 of the last 12 months - what's behind worsening performance on this measure?