Walsall Manor Hospital fined £119k for worst ever waiting times

The hospital will have to pay around £119,000 after just 81 per cent of patients were seen within the four-hour mark last month.

It follows various fines throughout the year for failing to hit waiting time targets. The latest figure, a two per-cent drop from October, represents the hospital's worst performance since the measures were introduced in 2004.

Originally, hospitals were expected to see 98 per cent of patients within the four-hour mark, however, this was dropped to 95 per cent in 2010. The Manor Hospital has already racked up £475,000 in fines after missing targets in April, June, July, August, September and October.

The hospital has been battling against rising admissions, with growing numbers of patients coming across from Staffordshire, since last winter when services were stripped from County Hospital in Stafford.

The hospital had hit its target in May and figures were improving in June and July, however they have now plummeted.

A report into the failed targets states that the highest number of breaches in November were due to unavailable beds in the Division of Medicine.

The average number of breaches per day came to 63, compared to 53 in October.

Admissions during November were 64 per day, which is an increase compared to 63 per day in October. Discharges increased with a daily average of 198 in November compared to 195 in October.

In response to the failures, work has been carried out to review the roles and responsibilities of nurse co-ordinator and ambulance handover nurse at the Manor, with an additional nursing role set to be introduced in January to help identify inappropriate referrals to A&E.

Richard Cattell, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust Chief Operating Officer, said: "With winter pressures on the horizon, and the difficulties we have faced in meeting the four hour targets, we have to put measures in place to try and avoid long delays in the department at its busiest times which are frustrating for both patients and staff.

"We have changed the way we work so that borough patients are monitored and managed in the most appropriate place, freeing up much-needed cubicles and cutting delays."