Extent of Walsall Manor and Staffordshire hospital waiting times revealed
More than one in four people spent longer than four hours waiting in A&E at two of Staffordshire's biggest hospitals.
At County Hospital in Stafford only 82 per cent of people were seen, treated, admitted or discharged within four hours in December – the lowest figure in nine months.
At Royal Stoke 72 per cent of patients were dealt with within the four-hour time-frame, meaning across both sites, which are run by the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, waiting time performance averaged out at 74 per cent.
The national target set by the Department of Health is 95 per cent.
Meanwhile more than one in five A&E patients are waiting longer than four hours to be dealt with at Walsall Manor Hospital.
Figures for December reveal that only 79 per cent of people were seen, treated, admitted or discharged within four hours, while for November the figure was 81 per cent.
There were 6,267 Walsall Manor emergency patients in the month, an increase of 91 from November, while the number attending by ambulance – 2841 – was up on the previous month by 111.
The figures are revealed in a trust board report in which hospital bosses also say patients are at 'extreme risk of 'major harm'.
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs the hospital calculates 'risk' by measuring the 'consequence' against the 'likelihood'.
For patients attending A&E the level of potential harm was ranked 'major', while the likelihood was deemed to be 'likely'.
Walsall north MP David Winnick is calling on hospital chiefs to do more.
He said: "It is unfortunate that more than one-in-five people are having to wait longer than they should but it is a very difficult time of year with the cold winter weather.
"However, one would hope steps could be taken to improve the situation even in the acute winter conditions.
"I know from my own visits that no blame can be put on the staff. But any steps that management can do to reduce people waiting long periods of times would be welcomed."
In the trust report Russell Caldicott, director of finance and performance, said measures had been put in place during December to relieve pressure.
He said: "Following the relocation of accident and emergency care to Ward 29 (Short Stay Unit), increased capacity is supporting an increase in new patients being seen from the emergency department."
In November County Hospital dealt with 87 per cent of A&E visitors in time, while the figure at Royal Stoke was 74 per cent.
Trust chief executive Paula Clark said: "Nationally, the NHS as a whole faced exceptionally high levels of demand for services throughout December and into the New Year.
"Although this has been extremely challenging, I would like to thank our staff for their continued hard work to provide the highest standard of care for our patients.
"We are currently implementing a number of internal processes, which are starting to have a positive impact on our efficiency and we hope that this improvement will continue."
Previous figures revealed that there were 178 12-hour trolley waits in December, with all but eight of these at Royal Stoke.
And at County's Weston Road site there were 40 12-hour trolley waits recorded between December 28 and January 6. But Paula Clark insisted that performance had improved since the start of the year.
