Busy summer as A&E patients still face long waits to be seen at Wigan Infirmary

Data published by NHS England reveals 48.1 per cent of people were admitted, transferred or discharged in the target time in August.

That was a slight drop from 49.0 per cent in each of the previous three months.

Summer has traditionally been quieter for A&E departments, but hospitals across the country now remain in demand throughout the year and there have been several periods of strike action by junior doctors and consultants.

The overall performance of Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) was 69.3 per cent – down from 69.6 per cent in July but buoyed by 99.2 per cent of patients being seen on time at Leigh Walk-In Centre.

It compares to 73.0 per cent of patients being seen within four hours in A&Es across England last month, down from 74.0 per cent in July.

The NHS recovery plan sets a target of March 2024 for 76 per cent of patients attending A&E to be seen within that time.

A total of 12,126 patients sought emergency care from Wigan’s hospitals in August – 7,089 at A&E and 5,037 at the walk-in centre – down slightly from 12,320 in July.

There were 3,095 emergency admissions, the majority from A&E.

After the decision to admit was made, 1,389 patients had to wait for more than four hours for a bed and 222 waited for over 12 hours – an improvement on 1,424 and 298 in July.