Hospital hits new waiting low

Stafford Hospital’s accident and emergency department has logged its worst ever figure for failing to meet a vital national target.

Almost 50 patients were forced to wait more than four hours to be treated at the troubled unit during an “extremely busy day” last week.

Accident and emergency units have to treat, admit or discharge patients within four hours under Government guidelines. Failure to do so is known as a “breach” and taken so seriously, hospitals are expected to hit the target in at least 98 per cent per cent of cases.

However, last Monday 46 breaches took place at Stafford A&E in a single 24-hour period. That meant more than a quarter of the day’s patients had to wait four hours or more, the figure is understood to be the highest ever recorded at the hospital.

A source has revealed that Monday night saw chaotic scenes as ambulances queued in the hospital’s car park waiting to transfer ill and injured patients to over-stretched A&E staff.

Hospital bosses have admitted the figure is correct but say that the day was “extremely busy”. Karen Morrey, chief operating officer with Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, also pointed out that the average time for patients to be treated over the course of the day was around two-and-a-half hours.

She said: “Last week the department saw 1,023 patients – 179 patients attended on Monday which resulted in an extremely busy day and unfortunately 46 of these patients spent more than four hours in the department.”

A hospital source, who declined to be named for fear of disciplinary action, said continuing staffing problems were partly to blame for last Monday’s turmoil.

She said: “It was very busy but a lot of the staff we had on were too junior and just didn’t have the experience to cope.”