Commenting on the summary published by NHS England, Saffron Cordery, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, said:

“Today’s figures once again reveal the major strain that hospital, mental health and ambulance trusts are under. The failure to meet a number of key performance targets is down to a difficult mix of spiralling demand for care, lack of social care support in the community, and the effects of the longest and deepest financial squeeze in NHS history. Much of this is beyond the control of individual providers.

We must also not lose sight of the fact that patients can access emergency care quicker in the NHS than virtually anywhere else in the world

“The persistent failure to achieve the four hour A&E target shows just how much pressure our A&E departments are under. While it is disappointing that more and more patients are now having to wait longer to be seen in A&E, we must take full account of the sheer volume of extra patients – an additional 38,000 compared to this time last year – that are being admitted to hospital as emergencies. Many of our members are reporting 10-15% year on year increases in A&E attendances and up to 5% increases in admissions. We are already running our NHS at much higher capacity levels than other advanced Western European countries, so it’s not surprising that unexpected demand increases of this size cause performance problems, despite the best efforts of other parts of the health service to treat people outside of hospital. We must also not lose sight of the fact that patients can access emergency care quicker in the NHS than virtually anywhere else in the world.

“Our members tell us they recognise the need to manage this extra demand as effectively as possible and that maximising patient flow through each local health and care system and each hospital is key. NHS system leaders need to recognise this deterioration is the result of the undeliverable demands that are being placed on providers. We need honesty and realism over what level of performance can be expected from providers given the financial, staffing and rapidly rising demand  problems they face.”