[E396]Hospital waiting times
本文音频及原文摘自杂志The Economist 2016年第16期，Britain版块。
An unhealthy situation
New figures show A&E departments under more pressure than ever
Apr 16th 2016
IN 2010 a new coalition government[1] set its own target for hospital accident and emergency (A&E) departments[2]: 95% of patients were to be dealt with within four hours of their arrival. Since July 2013 the mark has not been hit. February brought A&E's worst miss yet (see chart): 18.4% of patients waited more than four hours to be treated, transferred or discharged[3].
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注释
[1]新的联合政府
[注]联合政府（Coalition Government），又称为多党政府（Multiparty Government）或联合内阁（Coalition cabinet），主要指内阁制国家存在多党时，由二个以上政党所联合组成的政府。如果是国内的最大两个政党，合作形成的联合政府，称为大联合政府。——维基百科
[2]A&E 急症室
[3]discharge （尤指）允许…出院;释放
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This can be blamed on various bottlenecks, but the worst restricts the passage from hospital to social care. Old people stay longer in hospital than they need because there is no one to look after them at home and no place available in a nursing home. In early 2015 the inability to sort out subsequent social-care arrangements to free hospital beds accounted for around a quarter of the delays in transferring A&E patients*. It now accounts for about a third.
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注释
*2015年早些时候在为急症室病人转院缓慢，大概四分之一的情况是因为，无力解决后续社会关怀免费病床的问题。现在这一问题已经占据了大概三分之一。
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Growing demand[1] has not helped. In 2005-06, 18.8m people went to A&E; by 2014-15 the total had risen to 22.4m. Numbers were flat[2] the following year but John Appleby at the King's Fund, a think-tank[3], reckons A&E departments had already reached a tipping point[4]. When a hospital has filled almost all its beds, small fluctuations in demand make a big difference[5].
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注释
[1]不断增长的需求
[2]flat （尤指钱数）固定的，不变的
(especially of an amount of money) fixed; not likely to change
[3]tnink-tank 智囊团
[4]tipping point 转折点(某一变化或影响不能停止的时间)
(the time at which a change or an effect cannot be stopped)
The Earth has already passed the tipping point in terms of global warming.
就全球变暖而言，地球已经走过了转折点（暗示全球变暖无法避免了）。
[5]需求上的小浮动都会产生巨大的影响。
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Solutions seem far off[1]. The current government's pre-election promise[2] to smooth the path[3] between health and social care has yet to have much effect, says Andrew Haldenby of Reform, a think-tank. The proportion of people struggling to get help from a GP surgery[4] rose from 12% of those surveyed in 2011 to 15% in 2016, making the “worried well[5]”—37% of those turning up at A&E just need advice—harder than ever to shift.
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注释
[1]遥远的
[2]大选前的承诺/诺言
[3]smooth the path/way
(to remove problems so that something can be achieved easily)
(to make conditions easier for something to happen)
Parents can do a lot to smooth the way for their children when they start school.
To smooth our way, many people offered to drive us to and from the hospital.
[4]GP surgery（General Practitioner全科医师；普通医师）
[注]跟过今年政府工作报告笔记的小伙伴是否还记得“全科医生”
We will move faster to train general practitioners and pediatricians.
加快培养全科医生、儿科医生。
[5]the worried well, the people who do not need medical treatment, but who visit the doctor to be reassured, or with emotional problems.
worried well = those turning up at A&E just need advice
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Some ideas show promise. Lakeside Healthcare, a large GP surgery in Northamptonshire[1], has a new urgent-care centre giving appointments at less than a third of the cost of an equivalent A&E visit. It has cut overnight stays in local A&Es by up to 50%. Such measures are sorely[2] needed: A&E will not cure itself.
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注释
[1]Northamptonshire北安普敦郡（英国英格兰中部）
[2]sorely 极其；非常
(extremely; very much)
I was sorely tempted to say exactly what I thought of his offer.
我真想如实说说我对他的提议的看法。
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以上言论不代表本人立场。
原文摘自The economist，仅外语学习之用。
其中生词解释来源于Cambridge Dictionaries
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