Wales A&E figures miss key target

The target of 95% of patients seen within four hours is being missed

Waiting times at accident and emergency departments in Welsh hospitals have fallen behind key targets again.

The assembly government has set a target of 95% of patients spending under four hours in Welsh A&Es.

But that was missed in Wales as a whole in the last year, which the opposition said showed a failing health strategy.

The assembly government said more than 91% were seen within the four-hour target, and the health minister wanted that to get better.

"The health minister (Edwina Hart) recognises that performance has to improve," said an assembly government spokesman.

The figures are updated on a monthly basis and they show the target is slipping further from view.

The figures showed 91.3% of patients were treated within four hours in the year to October.

In the year ending September it was 92.4% and the year to August the figure was 93.7%.

However, some individual trusts met the target - Cwm Taf and the North West Wales Trust.

But Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust had the worst figure in Wales with 84.7% of patients seen within the four-hour target.

Conservative AM Jonathan Morgan said that behind the figures lay the anguish of patients, and pressure on staff.

"The average figures across Wales hide worse statistics in south east Wales," he said.

Liberal Democrat AM Jenny Randerson said: "It shows that the Labour-Plaid strategy is failing. They are taking the NHS in the wrong direction."