NHS patients in England who went to A&E in 2010 spent slightly longer in the department on average compared to those in 2009, say new provisional figures released today from The NHS Information Centre.

Of the 15.9 million A&E visits recorded in the calendar year 2010 (4.1 per cent more visits than in 2009) on average (median) patients spent:

• Eight minutes from arriving in the department to being assessed (compared to seven minutes in 2009)
• 53 minutes from arriving in the department to being treated (compared to 50 minutes in 2009)
• Two hours seven minutes from arriving to leaving the department (compared to one hour 59 minutes in 2009).

Comparing 2010 and 2009, the percentage of A&E visits where the patient left the department before being treated remained stable at 3.4 per cent (543,000) visits in 2010 (also 3.4 per cent in 2009) according to; Provisional Monthly Hospital Episode Statistics for Admitted Patient Care, Outpatient and A&E data – April 2010–December 2010.

These data show how long A&E visits took on average ahead of the new Government standards(6) being introduced to A&E departments on 1 April 2011. The published data provide some evidence on four of eight new indicators for A&E – replacing the previous “four hour wait” standard.

NHS Information Centre chief executive Tim Straughan said: “Today's report shows that patients spent a slightly longer time on average waiting to be assessed, treated and leaving from accident and emergency departments compared to the previous year(7).

“Over the coming months, more data will be published for 2011; allowing people to see if the average patient journey time through A&E changes over time.”

Provisional HES data is released four months after real time, to ensure the data can be submitted, processed and verified and is of sufficient quality for high level analysis. This means data from April 2011 onwards will be available from August 2011 onwards.

The data released today is part of a special topic presented as part of the monthly provisional HES publication, which is available at www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/provisionalmonthlyhes

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. The NHS Information Centre is England's authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with a wide range of health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researchers, regulators and policymakers in their work. The NHS Information Centre also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.

2. HES provisional monthly data can be used for high level, aggregate analysis demonstrating approximate trends in activity. Lower level analysis should be approached with caution as not all activity will be correctly processed until the final annual data is produced.

3. A&E HES includes records of attendances at major A&E departments, single specialty A&E departments, walk-in centres and minor injury units in England.

4. All averages in this press release are ‘median' averages. A median is the middle record if all records were put in size order. This is different to a mean, which is the value of each record added together and then divided by the total number of records. Both are types of ‘average'.

5. From April 2011 a set of clinical quality indicators for A&E services replaced the existing standard that no patient should spend more than four hours in A&E from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge. The stated purpose of these clinical quality indicators is to provide a more balanced and comprehensive view of the quality of care in A&E; this includes outcomes, clinical effectiveness, safety and service experience, as well as timeliness. The indicators include average time to assessment, treatment and departure and the number of patients that leave A&E without being seen. These are described at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_122868

6. Duration to assessment, treatment and disposal are reported as the time elapsed from arrival to: (i) initial assessment; (ii) commencement of treatment; (iii) the point at which the patient is no longer the responsibility of the A&E department. This final point may be because the patient is discharged or admitted to hospital.

7. For the purpose of clinical quality indicators, a patient is classed as having left the department without being seen if they leave before seeing a clinical decision-maker and receiving a meaningful assessment of their condition and the treatment options.

8. The Department of Health's QMAE data return is the official source of information for A&E services. However, A&E Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data, on which this report is based, is able to offer more detailed analysis. A&E HES coverage in this report represents 74 per cent of the QMAE attendances and has improved since the first publication of these experimental statistics in 2007-08 (62 per cent). There are a total of 172 providers with attendances in A&E HES compared to 263 providers that have submitted A&E attendances via QMAE. Of the 91 providers that have no attendances showing under A&E HES data, 88 are primary care trusts (PCTs) and 3 are trusts. The conclusions in this notice are very little affected by changes in coverage since 2009.

9. The publication includes provisional monthly data from Apr 2010 to Dec 2010 and final data for Jan 2009 to Mar 2010.

10. For media enquires please call 0845 257 6990 or email mediaenquiries@ic.nhs.uk