Health Secretary refuses to rule out abandoning targets for A&E

THE symbolic four-hour NHS treatment target for A&E patients may be abandoned or changed, the new Health Secretary has suggested.

Matt Hancock yesterday refused to rule out altering the commitment, as well as those for cancer and routine operations, hinting instead that health experts should consider what is “more clinically appropriate”.

Seen as a bellwether for NHS performance, the target to see at least 95 per cent of emergency patients within four hours has slipped badly over the last two years, with recent figures showing hospitals are managing just 86 per cent.

In his first speech since replacing Jeremy Hunt last week, Mr Hancock said: “The NHS has asked whether we can ensure that those targets are more clinically appropriate and want to give me that advice.”

He added: “Clearly those are the Government targets, but I’m also aware that from a clinical perspective we have got to make sure that the targets we set are the very best for improving outcomes for patient care.”

His comments follow an interview given earlier this week by Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, who also suggested the four-hour target, enshrined in the NHS Constitution, may be outdated.

The interventions indicate a significant change in thinking on a policy seen as politically inviolable since its adoption in 2004. During the height of the winter pressures in 2017, Mr Hunt was publicly slapped down by Theresa May when he suggested that less serious patients could take longer to be seen.

Last night Labour said it opposed alterations to core NHS targets and called on Mrs May to prevent changes.

The comments come a month after the Government announced an NHS funding boost of around £20billion a year in real terms in the next five years.

Mr Hancock also used his speech to pledge his commitment to using technology to improve NHS performance, promising a drive to replace pagers with smartphone apps and a £487million funding package to create the “most advanced health system in the world”.

He also revealed the health service was working with Amazon to connect the company’s echo devices with the NHS Choices website. If successful, it would mean people could ask for and be given health advice in their homes.

Formerly the culture secretary, Mr Hancock, described himself as “the greatest enthusiast of technology on the planet”.

“The opportunities of this new technology, done right across the whole health and care system are vast, so let’s work together to seize them,” he said.

Justin Madders, the shadow health minister, said that a refusal to commit to critical NHS targets was a “betrayal” of patients.