Quote Originally Posted by jacobncfc View Post
I actually think that the constant A&E waiting time stories are actually pretty stupid. I don't think that having this arbitrary four hour target helps anyone.

Can only go on my own experience, but on the occasions i've been to A&E (whether for myself or a family member), you get triaged almost immediately and then put in an order of priority. In 99.999% of cases, if you're waiting hours for treatment it's because your condition doesn't requite immediate medical attention. I don't really get why that should be a problem.

I'm very mildly asthmatic, and on the two occasions in my life where it's flared up quite seriously, I was being treated within moments of arriving at A&E.
In my experience, A&E is the most efficient and effective part of the system, probably because they have to be. Make the wrong decisions or take too long in that part of the system and you've potentially got a death on your hands that is very clearly attributable, so the best staff tend to be funnelled into the A&E teams.

The problems tend to come in the parts of hospitals that deal with the more routine care, especially for older people, where I've seen with my own eyes (and reported) some shocking poor practice and general slackness which had nothing to do with "lack of resources" and everything to do with careless, sloppy attitudes. I've no doubt there are patients deteriorating or dying unnecessarily on some of these wards, but the effect is more gradual and difficult to conclusively trace and prove.