A&E waiting times in Wales and Northern Ireland got worse last month - well below performance in England.
Hospitals are meant to see 95% of patients in four hours.
But during December just 76.7% in Northern Ireland were, while in Wales it was 81%, a drop since November for both nations.
By comparison in England 90.2% were seen in four hours during that month in what is proving to be one of the most difficult winters for years.
In England, figures are published weekly with the data for the second week of January actually showing a slight improvement over the previous week.
Meanwhile, the government in England has announced plans to change ambulance response times to make better use of the service at a time of growing pressure.
Ambulance service chiefs say too many vehicles are dispatched to cases in the second most urgent category, known as Red 2, which then turn out to be less urgent.
Ambulance services are expected to respond to Red 1 and Red 2 calls within eight minutes. Instead of 60 seconds the call handlers will now have 180 seconds to make a decision before the eight minutes begins for Red 2.
Before Christmas, a leaked document revealed plans to change response times which provoked criticism from Labour.
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Wales and NI A&E waits 'worsen'
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