Seven days in medicine: 8-14 Jan 2020

Emergency care NHS saw record low performance in DecemberEmergency departments in England experienced another record low in terms of four hour waiting times in December and saw the highest ever number of 12 hour waits, figures showed.NHS England data showed that only 68.6% of major emergency departments met the four hour target in December 2019, and 93.3% of general and acute beds were occupied throughout December.Katherine Henderson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said, "It is quite clear our hospitals are at capacity and are without the levels of staffing needed to cope." Winter pressures derail same day careAn NHS plan to ease capacity problems by providing urgent care to patients without admitting them to hospital has been "grossly derailed" by trusts repurposing beds for patients being admitted, senior doctors warned.NHS England instructed every major hospital to provide same day emergency care-also known as ambulatory emergency care-in acute medical units by the end of 2019.But an audit of 141 units by the Society for Acute Medicine found that, although 96% had a same day service, 45% used these units as extra capacity bed areas "at times of high demand.