Petition · past parliament
Suspend hospital fines for breaches in 4h waits in Emergency Departments
Closed
42 signatures
What the petition asks
The Standard Contract for NHS Providers in 2015-16 charges hospitals £120 for every breach of the 4h wait times over the target in Emergency Departments. With unprecedented pressure on Emergency Departments currently this is an absurd system of punishing hospitals for being busy.
House of Commons Health Committee "Winter pressure in accident and emergency departments Third Report of Session 2016–17" demonstrates that compliance with 4h targets plummets every winter (85% in 2015, 80% in 2016) and demand is currently higher than ever. Hospitals are paying the price of chronic government underfunding of Primary Care and Community Care, and to financially penalise hospitals for flawed government policy is clearly absurd.
Timeline
| 11 Jan 2017 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 2 May 2017 | Closed to new signatures |
Key facts
Signatures
42
Status
Closed
Opened
11 Jan 2017
Closed
2 May 2017
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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.