‘Humiliated’ NHS hospital bosses forced to chant ‘we can do this’ over A&E targets

'It was awful, patronising and unhelpful,' says one chief executive

Hospitals have been warned they face a 'winter of woe' (file photo) (Getty)

Hospital chief executives were berated for failing to hit accident and emergency treatment targets, then told to chant “we can do this” at a meeting designed to improve performance, it has been claimed.

The leaders of hospitals struggling with A&E performance were said to have been subjected to the “awful, patronising and unhelpful” exercise at an NHS England-led meeting in London last week.

Paul Watson, NHS England’s regional director for the Midlands and the east of England, led the executives in a break-out group he was overseeing in the chant, according to the Health Service Journal.

Bosses were left feeling “humiliated”, the Guardian reported.

One told the HSJ: “It was awful, patronising and unhelpful, and came straight after the whole group had just been shouted at over A&E target performance and told that we were all failing and putting patient safety at risk.”

The NHS is gearing up for another winter in which performance against the 95 per cent A&E target is likely to slip again, with senior doctors warning of a “winter of woe”.

Hospitals have also been warned to expect a “pressurised” flu season over the colder months.

The NHS tells emergency departments they must treat, transfer or discharge 95 per cent of patients within four hours, but many trusts fail to hit the target due to a combination of factors, key among them Britain’s ageing population.

Older people tend to have more illnesses at once and they can be more serious, meaning they are in hospital for longer. That can mean moving sick patients out of A&E and into other parts of a hospital becomes difficult or impossible, while care arrangements for those leaving wards are not always easy to make.

Mr Watson posted a comment on the HSJ website apologising for the chant. He said: “It was meant as light relief rather than brainwashing.”

He stood by his belief that poor performance was dangerous for patients, adding that “urgent care is the most basic service the NHS provides”.

NHS England declined to comment when contacted by The Independent.