Are hospitals getting worse?

Waiting times in accident and emergency departments are getting worse in England and Wales - despite an increase in the number of doctors.

The Independent Audit Commission says fewer patients are being seen by a doctor within an hour, and it is taking longer for patients to be admitted to wards from A&E.

The situation is worst in London, where only 30% of patients are attended to in under an hour, while hospitals in rural areas fare better.

Health Secretary, Alan Milburn, says the findings are "pretty disappointing."

The Conservative Party says the report is a damning indictment of Labour's handling of the NHS.

Should hospitals with a poor record be 'named and shamed'? Is the NHS getting worse? Have you had good or bad experiences in Britain's hospitals?

This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.

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Your reaction

The concept of "naming and shaming" is ridiculous, as it implies that the hospitals and by inference the staff are at fault. I am a middle grade A&E doctor. I work up to 104 hours a week in hellish conditions at not infrequent risk of assault by members of the public. Since 1995 we have been given not one extra doctor by the government, in spite of applying year on year. Meanwhile our patient numbers have increased steadily by 14% a year on average. NHS Direct is slowly but surely making the situation worse. Who is to blame? How about we "name and shame" some politicians, Mr Milburn.
Paul Kelly, UK

We should adopt the method of private healthcare as found in France where the hospitals are private but the government picks up the tab for those who cannot pay their health insurance. I pay 10.2% National Insurance contributions and I don't think that I get anything for it really.
Tom, UK

Why is it that people complain about the health service, but if any government suggests a modest increase in income tax, there is an outcry and they are banished to the political wilderness? Yes, the health service is failing - but guess what? It's not the nurses' fault, it's not the doctors' fault, it's not even the government's fault. It's those who won't accept that we need to actually fund it properly.
Simon Watkins, Wales, UK

I may have to pay for my health care, but I know the care I am getting is good. What good is care for all if it is sub-standard? For all of the problems of our own health care system, I'll still have it over yours.
David, USA

The reasons why waiting times in emergency departments have gone up despite an increase in the number of doctors are simple. Resources, particularly staffing have not kept pace with the additional responsibilities of ED's or public expectations. There is no point in Mr Milburn saying NHS managers will lose their jobs if they do not improve the situation. The managers I work with are extremely dedicated and hard working individuals, they have to run a very expensive business but are not allowed to charge what it costs. It is Mr Milburn who should go. On another point guess what I had to do last week when my third secretary in a year was off sick? I was told to type my own letters - just when I thought consultants in A&E were supposed to see patients.
Sue, UK

I recently spent over three days in hospital waiting for a heart monitor to become available.

Brian W, UK

The waiting times in our local A & E have not got any worse. they are just the same as always: seven hours from arrival to seeing a doctor for low category cases.
The problem is not a shortage of doctors, nurses or beds; it is a lack of support services so that an hour is added every time an x-ray, blood test, porter, equipment or whatever is required. I recently spent over three days in hospital waiting for a heart monitor to become available. At £1,000 a week per bed the NHS would have saved money if it had gone out and bought me one!
Brian W, UK

It's always fascinated me how people will be quite prepared to pay £100 to get some new tyres put on their car, or £50 here and there for having the TV repaired, but if it was suggested that having treatment in a hospital should carry a nominal fee everyone gets on their high horse about how "everything should be free".

Charge nominal fees for hospital (and GP) treatment to everyone between the ages of 18 and 65 who is in employment, and hospitals would get a nice wedge of extra funding. But of course, in "we want everything for nothing" Britain that would never work would it. After all, what's more important? Having your TV repaired or having your body repaired?
Simon Moore, UK

Most people in this country will go on strike to get a few pence knocked off a litre of petrol, but not worry a bit about the terrible shortage of funds that our Hospitals have to cope with. Germany spends nearly twice as much of its Gross Domestic Product on Health compared to Britain. So guess why their health services are better. I long ago decided no political party would ever look after the NHS properly and now pay for private insurance. And as a further insurance I'm learning German.
Anthony, England

I've now taken out private health insurance

Margaret Reeves, London

A&E is certainly not getting any better! I went in to my local big hospital A&E on a Sunday at 9am with a very painful wrist. While I appreciate that it wasn't exactly life-threatening, I did have to wait for one and a half hours to be seen by a triage nurse, who advised me not to eat or drink anything before I saw the doctor in case they needed to set my obvious fracture under anaesthetic. After 2.5 hours waiting, I gave in and had a cup of tea. After 5 hours in total, I finally saw a doctor. Once the x-rays were done, my arm plastered and a new appointment for a fracture clinic was made, I had been there 6 hours and 10 minutes.

During this time there were no more than a dozen new patients arriving at A&E.

The next day I had to go back to get my temporary plaster cast changed for a fibreglass cast, and had a 9.30am appointment. I finally saw the doctor at 10.45am. I've now taken out private health insurance - I can't really afford it, but neither can I afford to waste hours at time if I do injure myself.
Margaret Reeves, London, UK

We were waiting for 20 hours to get an x-ray

Paula, UK

The other weekend my boyfriend was playing rugby (he is a hooker) and the scrum collapsed on him, meaning that three large rugby players fell on his neck. Obviously, the physio thought he should go into hospital, so he had to lie on the pitch whilst waiting for an ambulance. An hour later it arrived. He got to hospital and when I arrived three hours later and he was still on a trolley, taped down. No-one had even asked him if he was alright. I asked the nurses what was going on and they said that they were waiting for a doctor to see him. After 6 hours of being on the trolley, still no-one came. After 9 hours, my boyfriend, who could have been paralysed, untaped himself from the trolley and walked over to the nurses to ask when he would be seen. An hour later, he was seen, but he then needed to see an Orthopaedic surgeon, and all in all, we were waiting for 20 hours to get an x-ray and C.T. scan to find out he was OK. Are the hospitals getting worse? They certainly aren't getting any better!
Paula, UK

It certainly seems as if the NHS "is failing Britian". But is Britain failing the NHS - in terms of funding, the imposition of unrealistic requirements, and politically-motivated management methods? Although the politicians will answer NO, I'm not sure we should believe them.
P, UK

I think it is a rather pointless step to try and point the finger at the Hospitals when we all know what the problem is. The government have taken plenty of extra tax from us and seem to have wasted it. They are the problem, not the overworked staff on the front line in our hospitals. Yet again it seems to have been lots of spin but no delivery, just like in Education. The tories may have left the NHS in a bit of a state but all that is happening now is we have a worse state, and we have paid more taxes to get there.
Shaun, Teignmouth UK

The public must take some of the blame

Gerry, Scotland

If A&E units actually turned away those who could feasibly go to their GP they would have more time to deal with real A&Es. The public must also take some blame for this we go to A&E for next to nothing.
Gerry, Scotland

To Gerry in Scotland: Probably more people would go to their GP's if that was feasible. I recently spent 17 days trying to get to my GP with a broken bone in my foot. I gave in with attempting to get medical treatment after that.
Andy, UK

Better to wait in A&E for 6 hours than the usual 2 weeks for a GP

John Knight, England

I disagree slightly with Gerry. The A&E are full with people who can't get appointments with their GPs!. Better to wait in A&E for 6 hours than the usual 2 weeks for a GP. Yes, they are getting worse. My mum was told she had a headache and was sent home. 2 weeks later she died of a blood clot on her brain! It wasn't found at the time and we are taking legal proceedings against the hospital management who are hell bent on performance targets and care little for the staff or patients. Our local hospital has fired all the middle management surgeons and nurses who knew their jobs, because they all failed a mangement consultants isometrics test. How outrageous!!

The government is squarely to blame we need a dept. of Health that will take responsiblity for modernising the NHS without bowing to political pressure. This is the 4th top economy in the world and our health service ranks below that of Albania. Enough Said!!!
John Knight, England