Something of a trend here

Interesting thing about this graph is the impact of the winter flu epidemics, the Brown era sees less than a percent change as A&E copes, where as in the late stage capitalism era, there are 5-10% changes seasonally.

Makes me want to plan 6 months in advance of getting ill.

You can do this with pretty much any social indicator you plot on a graph. Child poverty, homelessness, appointment waiting times, class sizes, food banks. Tories are statistically bad for the country, and no one gives a shit.

I was really confused by the very out of character spike at the end

Then I was like

"Oh yeah, the pandemic"

There's only so much you can do with finite resources. Every day we struggle to get people through the process of hospital admission.

I will admit there are ways that the NHS could steamline without increasing costs but it's difficult to implement. The NHS a lumbering great old institution that takes a long time to do things that aren't at the forefront of services.

we simply do not have the man power to achieve new goals and treat people at the same time.

All we can do is continue to provide the best care we can give as healthcare workers and hope that someone upstairs or in government sorts out what is going on with recruitment and spending.

They're trying their best though, stop being mean to the poor Tories

Gotta be careful with this one. I’ve got a few NHS relatives who were working back when the target was set, and (anecdotally) the 95%+ was usually achieved by deliberately not scheduling elective work during the testing week and shifting a lot of extra staff over to A&E.

Obviously there are plenty of points to be made about NHS funding and quality, but Blair/Brown era targets were not immune to tactical thinking!

I'm not a fan of the 4 hour target. I visited A&E at 3am on a Tuesday back in 2010. It was quiet, just two people waiting for attention.

I sat there unable to speak or swallow, drooling into a cardboard dish for almost 2 hours while a group of what I assumed were nurses chatted and messed around at the desk, sharing snacks and laughing over something on the computer. Eventually one of them came over, introduced himself as a doctor and treated me.

I was annoyed, and didn't hide it very well. He informed me that I was seen much faster than normal and that it was well within the 4 hour target.

Follow the Green and Pleasant twitter.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

You can find the numbers for your local NHS Trust here: www.howsmynhs.co.uk