Nine out of 11 Yorkshire NHS trusts are failing to meet A&E waiting time targets

The national target for A&E waiting times is 95% of patients seen to within four hours, but this has not been met since July 2015.

New data has revealed that nine out of 11 NHS trusts in Yorkshire are failing to meet the national NHS target for A&E waiting times.

Performance data for October 2019 shows that of the 11 trusts surveyed in Yorkshire, just two - Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust - met the national operational standard of getting 95% of A&E patients admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

Data for Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust was not available for October.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was the worst-performing trust in the region, with just 73.3% of patients attended to within the four hour target window.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was the worst-performing trust in October.

The best-performing trust in Yorkshire was Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust, where 97.8% of A&E patients were either admitted, transferred or discharged within the expected four-hour window.

Nationwide, the data has shown that A&E performance is at an all-time low, with one in six patients waiting longer than four hours in A&E in England during October - the worst-ever performance since the four-hour target was introduced in 2004.

Nuffield Trust chief economist, Professor John Appleby, said: "These figures show the next government will immediately be faced with one of the bleakest winters in the NHS's history."

The health service has also missed out on a number of other targets, including how long people wait to start planned treatment and waits for cancer care.

Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust was one of just two trusts in Yorkshire that met the national NHS target for A&E waiting times.

In March, NHS England announced proposals to scrap the key targets for patients to be seen in A&E within four hours, or to receive an operation within 18 weeks.

The Royal College of Surgeons and the charity Versus Arthritis, however, called on party leaders to safeguard the 18-week target.

Professor Derek Alderson, president of the Royal College of Surgeons said:

"It just isn't acceptable for so many people to languish on these lists, with deteriorating physical and mental health as they wait for treatment."

To see how your local Yorkshire trust ranked on A&E waiting times, follow this link.