NHS England published its monthly performance statistics for May and June this morning. A&E performance was 90.7%, exactly the same as this time last year, despite the fact that June experienced the second-highest level of A&E attendances since the data has been collected.
There were 2,091,318 A&E attendances in June. The highest ever was in May when there were 2,161,779 attendances. The stats also showed continued improvement of performance for delayed transfers of care, with 139,204 delays (the lowest since April 2015).
Executive Medical Director and Chief Operating Officer of NHS Improvement, Dr Kathy McLean said:
“June was the second busiest month A&E has ever faced. It is testament to the non-stop work of NHS staff that performance held steady compared to the same time last year, seeing over 80,000 more patients within 4 hours than in June 2017. At the same time, the number of patients facing delays when ready to leave hospital has also reduced to its lowest level since April 2015.
“But there is still considerable ground to make up. Thousands of patients up and down the country are still waiting too long in A&E and for planned surgery. The new funding settlement is good news for the NHS, and we need to ensure that every new pound spent provides the maximum benefit to our patients.”
