Accident and Emergency Statistics: Demand, Performance and Pressure
England's A&E attendances in 2016 were 5.2% higher than in 2015. In 2016 16.2% of patients spent over 4 hours in major A&E departments, compared with 4.8% five years ago. This briefing gives stats on A&E demand, performance and pressure for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Click the thumbnail to view a full-size map of 4-hour waits in major A&E departments in England. This map is also contained in the PDF report (below).
A summary of data for England follows:
A&E DemandTotal attendance increased by 5.2% compared with 2015 – equivalent to an average of 3,216 more people attending A&E each day. Attendance at A&E appears to be increasing at a faster rate than population growth.
Patients spending over 4 hours in A&E
The number and percentage of patients spending over four hours in A&E has risen in recent years. In 2016, over 16% of patients in type 1 departments spent over 4 hours in A&E – the highest for over a decade. The target for 95% of all attendees to be discharged, admitted or transferred within 4 hours has not been met in the monthly data since July 2015
Emergency AdmissionsThere were 4.26 million emergency admissions to hospital in 2016 - up 4.5% on the previous year.
Long waits for admission have also become more common, with twelve hour ‘trolley waits’ - the numbers waiting over 4 hours for admission after a decision to admit – doubling in 2016 compared with 2015.
Finding out more
Some data for local NHS providers can be downloaded below. Links to source data can be found on the right of this page. MPs and their staff can contact Library staff for more data for their local areas.