Hundreds of patients waiting more than 12 hours for bed at Wigan's hospitals

While winter is traditionally busy for the NHS, the extra factor of strike action by junior doctors meant Wigan’s hospital trust faced “extraordinary pressures” on its emergency services in December.

The A&E department at Wigan Infirmary was very busy, with previous calls reiterated for people to only attend if they were in a life-threatening condition or had a serious injury.

And patients who did need to be admitted to a ward faced very long waits for beds – sometimes more than 12 hours.

New figures from NHS England show 1,722 people had to wait more than four hours for a bed, once the decision to admit had been made, up from 1,550 patients in November and 1,495 in December 2022.

There were 406 patients who had to wait more than 12 hours for a bed, increasing from 380 the month before and 259 in December 2022.

Bosses at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) have made several pleas for families and friends to support patients when they are medically fit to be discharged.

Wigan’s health and social care sector as a whole has been looking to address the factors which can delay discharges, such as finding a care home placement or making adjustments to someone’s home.

The NHS England figures show there were 12,745 emergency attendances last month – 7,636 at the A&E department and 5,109 at Leigh Urgent Treatment Centre.

A total of 67.6 per cent of patients were seen within the target time of four hours across the trust, down slightly from 67.8 per cent in November.

This dropped to 46.9 per cent for A&E alone, with the urgent treatment centre seeing 98.5 per cent of people on time.

A total of 3,191 patients needed to be admitted, up from 3,125 in November and 2,765 in December 2022.

WWL’s interim chief operating officer Claire Wannell said: “Throughout December, WWL faced extraordinary pressures on our urgent and

emergency care services, particularly during the period of industrial action by junior doctors between Wednesday, December 20 and Saturday, December 23, as well as the challenge of three seasonal bank holidays.

“Unfortunately, this meant that patients, particularly those triaged with less urgent conditions, experienced longer waits in our emergency department as our clinicians will always prioritise those in most urgent need. We apologise for these waits and once again thank the public for the support we have received during these times of extreme pressures.

“The public can help us by remembering that emergency departments should only be used for life-threatening illnesses and injuries and if you need help in these situations, you must come forward. For conditions which are less urgent, please use NHS 111 or consider visiting a local pharmacy, urgent treatment centre or GP practice for support instead.

"To further help us to continue to provide safe and effective care, we urge families and friends of patients who are ready to be discharged from our hospitals to support their loved ones to recover at home. Our discharge teams are working incredibly hard to make sure this transition is safe, and recovery at home is always the best option.”