Accident and Emergency Services (Hansard, 25 February 2003)

§ David Davis
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients admitted to accident and emergency departments waited more than 12 hours before being treated in each of the last two quarters for which figures are available; and what the national average waiting time is for patients waiting more than 12 hours. [97737]

§ Mr. Lammy
The NHS Plan set a new target for accident and emergency (A&E), to reduce the maximum wait in A&E from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge to four hours by 2004.
In line with this target from August 2001, the Department has collected data on total time spent in A&E from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge. In Quarter 2, 2002–03, 3,095,650, or 77 per cent. of, patients spent less than four hours total time in A&E.
In addition, the Department collects data on waiting times in A&E post decision to admit patients to a hospital ward. In Quarter 2, 2002–03, 56,581, or 10 per cent. of, patients were not placed in a bed in a ward within four hours of a decision to admit. In Quarter 1, 2002–03, 54,546, or 9.7 per cent. of, patients were not placed in a bed in a ward within four hours of a decision to admit.
The Department does not collect information on how long patients wait in A&E before being treated or the average waiting time for patients in A&E.

§ Chris Grayling
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of accident and emergency clinical staff, by category, which will need to be recruited to achieve the four hour waiting time target by the end of 2004. [97704]
502W

§ Mr. Lammy
The NHS Plan set a new target for accident and emergency (A&E), to reduce the maximum wait in A&E from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge to four hours by 2004.
The Reforming Emergency Strategy was launched in October 2001 to help achieve the NHS Plan target. The NHS Plan included a commitment to increase the numbers of National Health Service consultants. For A&E, as set out in the strategy, this will result in the recruitment of an additional 183 A&E consultants by 2004.
In addition, new investment of 40 million was made available to recruit 600 additional A&E nurses to help to deliver the streaming system in A&E. At 31 December 2002, 692 additional A&E nurses had been recruited and were in post.