WIREDGOV

Background to latest NHS England accident and emergencey (A&E) statistics.

The weekly A&E figures for the weeks ending December 21 and December 28 2014 have been published by NHS England,

In the 2 week period, compared with the same period in 2013:

• there were 849,800 attendances at A&E, up by nearly 70,000 from 780,700

• 761,700 patients were seen in under 4 hours, compared to 749,000

• there were 162,700 emergency admissions via A&E, compared to 152,100

In the Autumn Statement the Chancellor set out details of a multi-billion pound funding package for the NHS to begin implementing the ‘NHS Five Year Forward View’. This includes £1.95 billion for frontline NHS services to be included in the baseline for 2015/16.

This year, the NHS’s winter preparations started earlier than ever, and the government supported this by providing £700 million — £300million more than last year — in extra funding.

The funding will be spent according to local need, but could pay for:

• up to 1,000 extra doctors and 2,000 extra nurses across England

• up to 2000 additional NHS staff, including physiotherapists, social workers and occupational therapists

• up to 2,500 extra beds both in acute hospitals and also in the community sector

• over £25 million will go towards increasing access to GPs, including later and weekend appointments

• £50 million will help ambulance services maintain or improve response times for emergency cases

• £250 million will support an extra 100,000 operations so people can get seen quicker and before they need to be admitted as an emergency case.

A Department of Health spokesperson said:

We know the NHS is busier than ever before, which is why we’ve given the NHS a record £700m this winter for more doctors, nurses and beds. The NHS has ensured there are plans in every area to manage the extra demand.