Skip to content
Welsh Government
Data Provider: Welsh Government National Statistics Performance against 4 hour waiting times target, all emergency care facilities by local health board

Note that data included in this statistical release covers a time period during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has affected both how some NHS services have been offered and people's choices regarding health services. See the latest release for more information.

None

Metadata

Title

Performance against waiting times targets, all emergency care departments by local health board

Last update

24/10/2024 24/10/2024

Next update

21/11/2024

Publishing organisation

Welsh Government

Source 1

Emergency department data set (EDDS), Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW)

Contact email

stats.healthinfo@gov.wales

Designation

National Statistics

Lowest level of geographical disaggregation

Local health boards

Geographical coverage

Wales

Languages covered

English and Welsh

Data licensing

You may use and re-use this data free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government License - see http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence

Data collection and calculation

Please find this information in the related statistical release, as per the given weblink.

From 1st April 2019 health service provision for residents of Bridgend local authority moved from Abertawe Bro Morgannwg to Cwm Taf. For more information see the joint statement from Cwm Taf and Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Boards (see weblinks). The health board names have changed with Cwm Taf University Health Board becoming Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board and Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board becoming Swansea Bay University Health Board. A link to the statement from the minister for health and social service can be found in the weblinks section.

Cardigan Integrated Care Centre took over Cardigan and District Memorial Hospital from mid-December 2019. For December 2019, data was reported against both sites for the duration of time that they were open during the month.

Frequency of publication

Monthly

Data reference periods

April 2013 onwards

Users, uses and context

Please find this information in the related statistical release, as per the given weblink.

Revisions information

On a monthly basis, LHBs can resubmit data to DHCW if they have carried further validation during the month and they need to revise their data. In 2013, we looked at the size and impact of the resubmissions for the data. The impact of the changes tended to be minimal accounting for less than one percentage point change against the 4 hour target for ‘emergency departments’.
Attendance data for January 2015, December 2016 and July 2017 was revised on 18/04/2019 to align with the NHS Wales reporting portal and incorporate resubmissions.
A change to reporting guidance led to the inconsistent implementation of a data standard change notice across health boards in Wales between March 2021 and October 2021. As a result the data previously published for both the 4 and 12 hour targets, for these months was not based on a consistent 'clock stop' definition across Wales. As of December 2021, these data have been revised and data for all health boards is now published using the same ‘clock stop’ definition.
The revisions are primarily based on resubmitted data from Aneurin Bevan health board. The changes to the previously published data at the national level and Aneurin Bevan health board level are summarised in the tables below.
The number of attendances at emergency departments is unaffected, more information can be found in the statistical release.

General description

A widened scope of emergency department performance statistics are now published on the National Collaborative Commissioning Unit (NCCU) website, as management. This includes measures on the time from patient arrival to triage, the time from patient arrival to contact with a clinical decision maker and analysis of the patient’s discharge destination when they leave the emergency department. These will be updated every month on the same day as this National Statistics publication.

For the March 2017 data onwards, there will be a new approach to publishing the emergency departments waiting times data: Prior to August 2012 data, the monthly emergency departments waiting times data was published by Welsh Government as official statistics in a Statistical Release, with more detailed data on StatsWales.
For August 2012 to February 2017 data, the monthly data was published by Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW) on their website as management information.
For March 2017 data onwards the monthly data is published on StatsWales with the NWIS publication being discontinued.

Data Prior to January 2013 will not be directly comparable with data for January 2013 onwards due to a change in methodology. See notes in March 2013 release for more details (January 2013).

Data for other emergency departments/minor injury units is only shown from April 2012 onwards as this information was not collected through SITREPS.

Until April 2012, data was submitted via SITREPS on a daily and weekly basis. The quality of the daily reported data was not robust enough for publication, therefore data was taken from the validated weekly reports to ensure greater reliability. As a result, the information presented is based on a four/five weekly cycle rather than calendar months. The number of weeks in any given cycle is based on how many Mondays fall between the end of the previous cycle and the end of the month. It is the week end date, always a Monday, which is used to determine the 'month' a particular weekly report belongs to. Months consisting of a 5 week reporting period have a note next to them.

For the January to July 2012 data, Betsi Cadwaladr University LHB was not able to fully implement the change for all months and Cardiff and Vale University LHB was only able to implement it for 26 to 31 January, but have fully implemented it from the February 2012 data. (Cardiff and Vale University informed us that they had to develop and test its systems and train users to ensure a robust collection around clinical exclusions to comply with the new EU compliance guidance. This was completed late in January.) Therefore the Wales figures for December 2011 to July 2012 are likely to be lower than expected.
A target around the eradication of 12 hour or more waits in all emergency care facilities from April 2013 onwards was introduced in the NHS Wales Delivery Framework for 2013-14, therefore data on the 12 hour target is not available before this date.

There are some technical changes to emergency department reporting, that have been implemented from December 2011 around clinical and operational exclusions. From December 2011, the guidance below now applies in Wales. So, the two situations below will no longer be counted as a breach of the targets: If a clinician decides that the safest place for a patient is the emergency department, the patient should remain there until it is safe to move them; and patients should not be admitted solely to avoid a breach of the targets. Clinicians should admit patients only to appropriate facilities and only when it is appropriate to do so. For the December 2011 data, Cardiff and Vale University and Betsi Cadwaladr University LHBs were not able to implement the change to the guidance around clinical exclusions.

Keywords

Waiting times; A&E; emergency departments

Statistical quality

Please find this information in the related statistical release, as per the given weblink.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, several Minor Injury Units temporarily closed, but some have since reopened. These are Barry hospital (closed in March 2020; reopened in August 2020); Bryn Beryl (closed in May 2020; reopened in August 2020); Dolgellau and Barmouth District Hospital (closed in April 2020; remains closed); Tywyn & District War Memorial Hospital (closed in June 2020; remains closed); and Llandovery (closed in April 2020; remains closed).

Note that data included in this statistical release covers a time period during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has affected both how some NHS services have been offered and people's choices regarding health services. See the latest release for more information.