What is the 4 hour Accident and Emergency (A&E) target?
Known as ‘4 Hours’, this is one of the NHS’s principle performance indicators.
It states 95% of emergency patients should be seen, treated if necessary, and either discharged or admitted, within four hours of arrival in an Emergency Department (ED) – unless there are medical reasons for keeping you there (e.g. you are too unwell to move).
It is your right in the NHS Constitution (for England).
This time limit also applies to other emergency care in minor injury units or hospital assessment units where chairs and/or trolleys are used. For example, if you are referred by your GP to an acute medical/surgical admission unit (may be called a AMU, MAU, MDU or SAU) or an equivalent maternity unit, and are placed on a chair/trolley, the standard should still be achieved.
The ‘clock’ should ‘stop’ only when you are admitted to a bed, transferred to another hospital, or are discharged.
It has last been achieved since July 2015.
In fact, as the standard is not often achieved, there is a lesser known limit called a ’12 hour trolley wait’. This says that you should not be put on a trolley in an A&E corridor, waiting for a bed, for more than 12 hours. We’re sorry to report that this happens at all.
Summary
What is the 4 hour Accident and Emergency (A&E) target? We hope you understand it better now.
Last Reviewed on 11 March 2024