Health chiefs advised on A&E targets

HEALTH chiefs should relax targets on the amount of time people have to wait at accident and emergency, nurses have said.

The Edinburgh-based Royal College of Nursing said the stringent four-hour goal meant patients were being left in inappropriate wards or on trolleys as hospitals battled to see everyone.

The casualty unit at the city's Royal Infirmary is the busiest in the UK and recent statistics have shown NHS Lothian is just missing the target of seeing 98 per cent of patients in that timeframe.

Theresa Fyffe, RCN Scotland director, said: "The RCN is calling for a more realistic target of 95 per cent of patients being seen within four hours, rather than the current 98 per cent.

"This would give A&E staff the flexibility and time to deliver the personalised, quality care patients deserve.

"Health boards must listen to the concerns of nurses and other staff who work in emergency departments and must collect proper data about the daily operation of emergency departments - such as the treatments that patients require."