Two of the three acute hospitals serving most of Wiltshire’s patients are on the list of the worst thirty A&E departments – or emergency departments – in England.
Great Western Hospital in Swindon and the Royal United Hospital in Bath are listed at numbers 18 and 28 respectively. They have been missing the target that 95 per cent of people attending A&E must be seen, treated and then admitted or discharged in under four hours.
Jim Mackey, who heads the newly created NHS Improvement organisation, is reported by the Daily Mirror to have called in chief executives from the poorest performing hospitals for ‘a crisis meeting’. He told them they had to achieve 85 per cent in the second quarter of 2016 and reach the 95 per cent standard by the end of 2017.
Only 19 of England’s 136 acute hospital trusts met the 95 per cent target in February – the worst percentage since 2004.
Prescription charges up: the Government has quietly increased the costs of a prescription – from £8.00 to £8.20. Not many people will be aware of this rise as 90 per cent of prescriptions are dispensed free of charge.
If a 20p increase seems unnecessary check out the report published today by parliament’s spending watchdog: “There is not yet a convincing plan for closing the £22billion efficiency gap and avoiding a ‘black hole’ in NHS finances.”
