Fewer than half the hospitals in England were found to have good or excellent cleanliness ratings.
Source: Press release 7 December 2004, Department of Health (020 7210 4850)
Links: DH press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Dec
A report detailed progress in improving the delivery of emergency care for people in England over 2003 and 2004. It said that 19 out of 20 people were seen, diagnosed and treated within four hours in accident and emergency departments. But there were shortages of acute physicians who could speedily assess patients whose condition might be difficult to determine, with only about a third of the 500 staff needed in post.
Source: George Alberti, Transforming Emergency Care in England, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report (pdf) | DH press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Oct
An audit report said that National Health Service trusts had achieved a large and sustained reduction in the length of time patients spend in accident and emergency departments, mainly through improved working practices. But there was further room for improvement in the case of patients with more complex needs (including older people and those with mental health needs).
Source: Improving Emergency Care in England, National Audit Office (020 7798 7000) HC 1075 (Session 2003-04)
Links: Report (pdf) | NAO press release | BMA press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Oct
A survey (for the Saga organization) looked at the key factors most valued in hospital services by people aged over 50, including waiting times, hospital experience and successful treatment. It concluded that the vast majority of hospitals in England and Wales needed to do more to improve services for the over-50s.
Source: The Guardian, 20 September 2004
Links: Guardian report | Saga Magazine
Date: 2004-Sep
A report by a House of Lords committee warned that hospitals faced a major staffing crisis as a result of European Union legislation and court rulings on doctors' working hours. The government reportedly admitted that it would be unable to fully implement a European Union directive to cut junior doctors' hours by a 1 August 2004 deadline.
Source: The Working Time Directive: Response to the European Commission s review, Ninth Report (Session 2003-04), HL 67, House of Lords European Union Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522) | The Guardian, 22 April 2004
Links: Report (pdf) | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2)
Date: 2004-Apr
The government reportedly conceded that a pledge to create 7,500 extra hospital consultants by 2004 would not be met, leaving a shortfall of between 1,000 and 1,500.
Source: The Guardian, 23 April 2004
Links: Guardian report
Date: 2004-Apr
Researchers found that the use of acute hospital services did not increase with age. They analysed hospital death statistics for 1999-2000 to examine whether use of hospital services in the three years before death varied with age. A second study found 'compelling evidence' that proximity to death, rather than age, was the main demographic driver of rising healthcare costs.
Source: Tracy Dixon, Mary Shaw, Stephen Frankel and Shah Ebrahim, 'Hospital admissions, age, and death: retrospective cohort study', British Medical Journal, 16 April 2004 | Meena Seshamania, and Alastair Gray, 'Ageing and health-care expenditure: the red herring argument revisited', Health Economics, Issue 13
Links: BMJ article (pdf) | BMJ press release | Health Economics article (pdf)
Date: 2004-Apr
The healthcare inspectorate found that hospital care across England and Wales had significantly improved over the previous four years, and was now more focused on the needs of patients. In particular, progress had been made in reducing waiting times in accident and emergency departments and for outpatient appointments, including the introduction of treatment centres and the expansion of admission wards and minor injuries units. But progress in some other areas, such as safe and clean treatment environments, and privacy and dignity for patients, was still variable.
Source: What CHI has Found in: Acute Services - Sector report, Commission for Health Improvement (020 7448 9200)
Links: Report (pdf) | CHI press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Mar
