Busy month for Wigan's hospitals with 20 per cent more patients visiting A&E

But under-pressure staff managed to see a similar number of people within the four-hour target time as they did the month before, according to the new data from NHS England.

People were being urged to stay away from A&E at the beginning of the year, unless their condition was life or life-threatening, as patient numbers increased, there were delays in discharging those fit to go home and staff took industrial action.

Attendance figures did drop in January and February, but the new data shows people have returned.

There were 12,807 emergency attendances at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) in March, up 20.35 per cent from 10,642 in February.

That was 8,367 attendances at Wigan Infirmary’s A&E department (up 20.95 per cent) and 4,440 at Leigh Walk-In Centre (up 19.23 per cent).

Staff at the trust admitted, transferred or discharged 66.3 per cent of patients within four hours – up from 66 per cent in February.

Medics on the A&E unit saw 48.6 per cent of patients in the target time, up from 48.1 per cent, while the walk-in centre team saw 99.8 per cent of patients in four hours, up from 99.2 per cent.

There were 2,927 emergency admissions, the majority from A&E, which was up 26.7 per cent from 2,310 in the previous month.

Busy wards meant that 1,485 patients had to wait more than four hours for a bed, after the decision to admit them was made, while 351 people waited more than 12 hours. That compares to 1,386 waiting for four hours and 383 waiting 12 hours in February.

Across England, there were 2.16m attendances at A&E departments and 71.5 per cent of patients were seen within four hours.

The number of people waiting at least four hours for a bed from the decision to admit has risen from 126,948 in February to 144,292 in March, up 14 per cent.

The new figures were published as junior doctors across the country took part in a 96-hour strike in a dispute with the Government over pay.