NHS: Waiting Times

Baroness Sharples Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd May 2011 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, we are quite clear that timeliness remains an important ingredient in the care of patients. However, we are also clear that it is not the only measure of quality. On emergency surgery, there is no reason to expect that patients will be treated any less urgently in the future than they have been in the past. What matters is clinical priorities being set correctly.

[Baroness Sharples]

Is my noble friend aware that very recently I was in A&E on a trolley at St Thomas’s for just under five hours waiting for a bed?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, that does concern me. I do not think anyone could endorse the practice of patients remaining on trolleys. I hope my noble friend was seen and tended to in a timely manner, but what she describes does not sound to me as though it conforms with good clinical practice. However, I stress to her that the figures I have show that nationally hospitals as a whole are adhering to the new standards that have been set.