A&E waiting times target missed for 90th week in a row

The Guardian has today released a story which states that the 4 hour waiting time directive for A&E has been missd 90 weeks in a row. The full story from the paper's website is provided below:

'The proportion of patients seen within four hours at NHS hospital emergency departments in England has failed to meet the 95% target for the 90th week in a row.
Figures released by NHS England on Monday show that 88.4% spent four hours or less from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge in the week ending 5 April. The figure was a slight improvement on the previous week, when it was 87.8%
Out of 140 trusts with hospital A&E departments, 38 achieved the 95% target, compared with 30 in the previous week.
The government prefers to measure the target against all emergency departments, including minor injury units and walk-in centres, rather than just hospital A&E units.
By that measure, 92.4% of patients were treated within four hours last week, compared with 92.0% the previous week, making it the 27th week in a row that the target has been missed.
Dr Barbara Hakin, the national director of commissioning operations for NHS England, said: “The demands on the NHS frontline remain high but we continue to deliver good services in the face of this pressure, admitting or treating and discharging more than nine out of 10 patients within four hours.”
There were 441,100 attendances in A&E units, down slightly on the previous week when it was 445,000.
The number of people waiting for more than four hours was 7,500, down from 7,700 a week earlier but up more than 50% on the same period last year.
Last month, the Department of Health confirmed that NHS England has failed to meet its target every week of the winter, meaning the average for the whole year has not been met for the first time.'