Three London trusts among UK's worst for A&E delays

 
Three London hospital trusts are among the UK's worst for A&E delays

Three London hospital trusts have been named among the worst in the country for delays in accident and emergency departments.

King’s College, North West London, and Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS trusts missed the key target of seeing at least 95 per cent of patients within four hours.

They were among the worst six out of 145 NHS trusts in 2013/14, according to research in the House of Commons Library. At Barking, Havering and Redbridge — which runs Queen’s Hospital in Romford and King George’s in Ilford, almost one in seven patients waited more than four hours.

But the capital also boasted the best performance: Chelsea and Westminster was able to see 98.3 per cent of patients in time. The NHS target is 95 per cent.

A total of 21.7 million people attended A&E in England in 2013/14 — 14.2 million at departments treating major injuries. Others used minor injury centres or specialist hospitals. Barts Health, which runs six hospitals including The Royal London, saw the most patients — 297,333, or an average of 815 a day.

At major A&Es across England, the proportion waiting longer than four hours rose from 6.2 to 6.5 per cent — an extra 36,000 people. The report said the NHS coped with winter pressures “much better... with no returns to the lows of the previous winter”.

King’s College trust said its performance was a result of it acquiring Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) in Orpington last October. A spokesman said: “The A&E at PRUH faces significant challenges. We’ve made changes, increasing staffing and putting in place additional capacity. However, improving the service will take time.”

North West London said it had seen a “big increase” in patients arriving by ambulance at Northwick Park Hospital. Director of operations Tina Benson said: “Our new £21 million emergency department will open later this year.” Dr Claire Emerson, clinical lead for A&E at Chelsea and Westminster, said: “We have our own target of 98 per cent. Having a good patient flow through the hospital can make a real difference.”

Barking, Havering and Redbridge Chief Executive Matthew Hopkins said: “We have been very open about the challenges we face to meet the A&E target. Although we have been praised for the care we provide to patients while they are in our A&E departments, we know that some people are still facing unacceptably long waits.

“We are setting out in our Improvement Plan the many initiatives taking place to improve performance and the experience we are providing to our patients. The Trust, along with our partners in health and social care, are determined to bring about these changes.”

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