NHS Targets. A good thing? Not ALWAYS!

[onyx39]

I had a problem with my heart towards the end of last year, and was admitted for a minor procedure, and all has been fine pretty much ever since. Till last night. Spent the night with on an off pain, not bad, just niggling and decided to get it checked out at the Hospital this morning. Arrived at Frimley Park this morning at 7.59 am, was seen by a triage nurse and taken (pretty much immediately) to resus,

Had several ECG's, blood pressure taken several times, and was told that, because I had told them I had the event had started around midnight, they wanted to run a test at mid day to ensure that I had not suffered a heart attack. There lies the problem. I "breach" at 11:59, which clearly cannot happen!

Net result was, I had the test @ 12:00, (which proved negative btw) and in order for me not to breach, I was admitted. Results of the test back by 12.30. Discharged by doctor - 16:40, all so an NHS target was not breached by 1 minute

[Midas]

That's the problem with targets, frequently the steps taken to meet the targets aren't necessarily the best for the patient.

However, the question would have to be, what would you replace them with?