article_snippet: Repeated failure to achieve the target of 95 per cent of patients waiting four hours or less at A&E departments in England means it is no longer possible for the NHS to meet the standard for the year.
article_snippet: Today England revealed 92 per cent of patients spent four hours or less from arrival to being sent home or admitted elsewhere in the hospital.
article_snippet: Patients arriving at A&E have often had to wait longer than the four-hour target, according to the Nuffield Trust analysis of how all 156 hospitals trusts in England have performed against six national targets over the course of the Coalition government.
article_snippet: the national target specifying the proportion of patients that should spend four hours or less in A&E before being sent home or admitted elsewhere in the hospital.
article_snippet: 92 per cent – average performance against the four-hour target by major A&E departments in 2014.
article_snippet: the average time spent in A&E by a patient who is admitted to hospital after leaving A&E.
article_snippet: the average time spent in A&E by a patient who is sent home after leaving A&E.
article_snippet: – how much longer on average a patient over the age of 75 spends in A&E
article_snippet: Criteria monitored by The Nuffield Trust's also included the 18-week target for an outpatient appointment, the two-week target for urgent cancer referral, and the 31-day target for cancer treatment.
article_snippet: And most patients were, in fact, treated in under an hour.
highlights_snippet: Aim is for 95% of patients to wait four hours or less from arrival at A&E to being sent home or to another ward in the hospital for care .
  
highlights_snippet: Week ending March 8 saw 92% of patients seen within the target time .
  