Nurses in emergency arenas reported considerable burden, in terms of a very high workload and pressure from senior staff to meet the target. Respondents reported that negative impact on patient care for the majority of patients, excluding the most sick, for whom emergency arena nurses reported that they ensured received appropriate treatment, regardless of breaching treatment targets. Around half of the nurses working outside emergency arenas felt pressure and amended their work practices to enable colleagues in emergency arenas to meet treatment targets.