NHS Performance Tracker

England

Please find below the latest England performance figures for May 2024.

May performance data

Flourish slides can be found here.

Summary:

• In May 2024, 145,094 patients waited 12-hours or more from their time of arrival. This is the highest number of 12-hour waits for May on record.
• So far 751,064 patients have waited 12 hours or more this year, 114,601 more than at the same point of last year.
• May 2024 saw the highest number of Type-1 attendances on record for any month.
• There were 1,472,721 Type-1 attendances, an increase of 7.3% compared with last month and an increase of 5.1% compared with May 2023.
• There were 414,156 emergency admissions via Type 1 Emergency Departments.
• Bed occupancy stands at 93.4% on average, and it would require 9,848 more beds to bring occupancy down to 85%.
• More than half of patients who no longer met the criteria to reside remained in hospital (53.3%), with the monthly average being over 12,000.
• There was a weekly average of 106,632 additional bed days for patients with a length of stay over 21 days.

Supplementary ECDS Analysis May 2024 final (12-hour length of stay data measured from the time of arrival) data shows:

• 10.1% of all Type 1 Emergency Department attendances waited 12-hours or more in May. This was a 0.1 percentage point increase from last month but a 1.5pp increase from May last year.
• It was the worst May for 12-hour performance since records began, with 1 in 10 patients waiting this long.
• In May 2024, 145,094 patients waited 12-hours or more from their time of arrival. This is the highest number of 12-hour waits for May on record.
• So far 751,064 patients have waited 12 hours or more this year, 114,601 more than at the same point of last year.

The latest Emergency Department performance figures published by NHS England for May 2024 for show:

• There were 1,472,721 Type-1 attendances, an increase of 7.3% compared with last month and an increase of 5.1% compared with May 2023.
• May 2024 saw the highest number of Type-1 attendances on record for any month.
• There were 414,156 emergency admissions via Type 1 Emergency Departments, the highest number for May on record.
• The percentage of patients seen within four hours in Type 1 Emergency Departments stood at 59.7%, a decrease of 0.7 percentage points (pp) compared to last month and 0.7pp compared to May 2023
• The aggregate four-hour target stood at 74%. This is 4 percentage points lower than the Government’s intermediary threshold target of 78%.
• There is a 14.3pp difference between aggregate and type 1 four-hour performance.
• The number of patients waiting 12-hours or more from the decision made to admit them stood at 42,555, an increase of 477 patients compared to last month but an increase of 11,061 when compared to May 2023.

Beds data for May 2024 shows

:

• There were 100,244 type 1 G&A beds available. This is 658 fewer beds than last month and 1,840 more than May 2023.
• Bed occupancy stood at 93.4%, representing a decrease of 0.3 percentage points compared to last month, but an increase of 0.2 percentage points compared to May 2023.
• Based on the data for this month, there are 9,848 more beds required to bring bed occupancy down to 85%.

Delay Discharges

• In May 2024, a daily average number of 12,360 patients remained in hospital while no longer meeting the criteria to reside. This is a decrease of 280 when compared with May 2023 and a decrease of 412 compared with last month.
• More than half of patients who no longer met the criteria to reside remained in hospital (53.3%). This is a decrease of 3.2 percentage points from May 2023 (56.5%), and a decrease of 0.5 percentage points from last month (53.8%).
• There was a weekly average of 106,632 additional bed days for patients with a length of stay over 21 days, a decrease of 4.1% when compared with May 2023 and a decrease of 5.1% compared to last month.

Scotland

Emergency Department performance data for Scotland, May 2024:

Flourish graphs here.

Summary:

• This was the worst May on record for eight and 12-hour waiting time figures, and the second worst for 4-hour waits
• One in three patients waited four hours or more in Emergency Departments (67.4%), One in nine waited eight hours or more (10.93%), and one in 21 waited 12 hours or more (4.58%)
• Long waits have increased significantly since the 2010s. Since May 2017, for example, the numbers waiting four hours or more has increased by nearly five times (+363%), eight hours or more by 21 times (+2,036%), and twelve hours or more by 89 times (+10,446%). Despite attendance only increasing by 0.5% in the same period
• There was a total of 60,196 days spent in hospital by people whose discharge was delayed. This is a 11% increase on May 2023 (54,077).

Data:

• In May 2024, there were 123,184 attendances at major Emergency Departments in Scotland. This is a 10% increase from the previous month.
  • 67.4% of patients were seen within four hours at major (Type 1) Emergency Departments. This is the second worst four-hour performance for any May since records began in 2011
  • This is 3.4 percentage points higher than the previous month and a 0.2% percentage point increase from May 2023
  • 40,106 (32.6%) patients waited over four hours in major Emergency Departments. This is a 0.5% decrease from the previous month (40,319) and a 3.4% increase from last May (38,804)
  • The number of patients waiting more than four hours has increased by nearly 5 times compared to April 2017 (8,660).

• 13,458 (10.93%) patients waited eight hours or more in Emergency Departments.
  • This is the highest proportion of eight hour waits for any May on record
  • The proportion waiting this long has decreased by 1.8 percentage points from the previous month but has increased by 1.4 percentage points compared to May 2023
  • The numbers waiting more than eight hours is 21 times the numbers that waited this long in May 2017 (630).

• 5,644 (4.6%) patients waited twelve hours or more in Emergency Departments.
  • This is the highest proportion of 12-hour waits for any May on record
  • The proportion waiting this long has decreased by 1.1 percentage points from last month and increased by 1.4 percentage points from May last year
  • The numbers waiting more than 12 hours was 89 times the numbers in May 2017 (63)

• There were 1,942 beds occupied due to delayed discharges, an increase of 28 beds from the previous month
  • There was a total of 60,196 days spent in hospital by people whose discharge was delayed. This is a 11% increase on May 2023 (54,077).

Wales

Wales NHS Emergency Department Performance Data – May 2024

Flourish slides can be found here.

Summary:

• This was the second worst May on record for four-hour, eight and 12-hour performance in Wales. Despite it being late spring heading towards summer, there was a largest proportion of people waiting for long periods in EDs compared with last month.
• 44.1% of patients waited four hours or longer in an Emergency Department. 23.2% (nearly one in four patients) waited eight hours or longer, and 14.5% (one in seven) waited 12 hours or longer.
• Compared to May 2017, the numbers waiting four hours or more increased by nearly double, the numbers waiting more than eight hours has increased by triple, and the numbers waiting more than 12 hours has more than quadrupled. This is despite attendance being 1.7% lower than in May 2017.

Figures:

• 70,188 people attended major emergency care facilities in May 2024.
• Overall, 58.6% of patients in major EDs were admitted, transferred, or discharged within four hours from arrival.
  • This is a 0.8 percentage-point decrease from last month, meaning that performance is getting worse despite it being the start of summer.
  • 41.4% of patients in major EDs waited longer than four hours (29,063 patients). The number of patients waiting more than four hours has increased by 10.6% from last month (26,271).
  • The number of people waiting more than four hours has increased by double (92.3% increase) compared with May 2017 (15,112).
• 23.2% of major ED attendances waited more than eight hours (16,296 patients).
  • This means that nearly one in four patients were delayed eight hours or more at a major emergency department. This figure has increased by 0.5 percentage points compared to last month.
  • The number of people waiting more than eight hours has increased by triple (193.6% increase) compared with May 2017 (5,550).
• 14.8% of major ED attendances waited more than 12 hours (10,397 patients).
  • This means that one in seven patients were delayed by 12 hours or more. This is 0.3 percentage points more than last month.
  • The number of people waiting more than 12 hours has more than quadrupled (344% increase) compared with May 2017 (2,339).

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland Quarter 4 2023/24 (Jan-Mar 2024) performance data:

Flourish slides can be found here.

Summary:

• January to March 2024 was the worst quarter on record for four and 12-hour performance in Northern Ireland
• Only 37.4% of patients spent less than four hours in ED
• One in five patients (20.2%) had to wait longer than 12 hours in the ED
• The median time that admitted patients waited in an ED was just under 16 hours. More than three times longer than the time spent by discharged patients
• Average attendance was lower than any quarter since Quarter 4 2020/21.

Figures:

• The average number of monthly attendances for this quarter was 45,503. 5.7 percent less than last quarter and 14.3 percent less than Quarter 4 2022-23
• On average, 37.4% of patients were seen and resulted in a subsequent admission, transfer, or discharge within four hours for each month.
  • This is the worst four-hour performance for any quarter on record
  • It is 2.9 percentage points less than last quarter and 5.4 percentage points less than Quarter 4 2022-23
  • January was the worst month ever for four-hour performance.
• On average, 20.2% of patients waited more than 12 hours in an Emergency Department.
  • This is the worst 12-hour performance for any quarter on record
  • More than one in five patients had to wait longer than 12 hours in the ED
  • A total of 27,553 people waited longer than 12 hours. This is nine times more than Quarter 4 2016/17.
• The average January to March for the median time that admitted patients spent in an Emergency Department was 15 hours 57 minutes
  • This is nearly two hours more than the previous quarter (14 hours 0 minutes)
  • This is 10 hours 14 minutes more than the average for Quarter 4 2016/17 (5 hours 43 minutes)
  • Admitted patients spent on average more than three times longer in an Emergency Department than those who were discharged home, who spent on average 4 hours 32 minutes in ED.