Historical trend
Trend summary
NHS England A&E departments met the four-hour wait target for 71.2% of attendances in April 2026, below the 95% standard.
Trend
- The 95% standard for four-hour waits has not been met nationally since 2012–13.
- Performance reached a low of around 54–57% during winter 2022–23 before recovering partially.
- Type 1 (major A&E) performance is consistently lower than the all-types aggregate figure.
Context
- NHS England publishes A&E attendance and emergency admission data monthly.
- The four-hour target measures time from arrival to discharge, admission, or transfer.
Commentary contains no editorial judgement — describes direction, magnitude, and official projections only.
About this indicator
- Source
- NHS England
- Update frequency
- Weekly
- Last updated
- 22 June 2026
- Licence
- OGL v3
- Direction
- ↓ Falling
Statistics
- Latest
- 76 %
- Period high
- 77 %
- Period low
- 73 %
- Period average
- 75 %