Less than three-quarters of Wigan A&E patients are seen within four hours, way below the NHS goal
Less than three-quarters of patients who arrived at Wigan’s casualty department last month were seen within four hours, new figures show.
The NHS standard is for 95 per cent of patients to be seen within four hours. However, as part of a recovery plan, the health service has extended its objective for 78 per cent of patients to be admitted, discharged or transferred within this time frame by March 2026.
Recent NHS England figures show there were 13,054 visits to Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust’s A&E in October. Of them, 9,469 were seen within four hours – accounting for 73 per cent of arrivals.
This means the trust fell below the recovery target and the original standard.
It comes as thousands of resident doctors across England are preparing to strike for five days from 7am on Friday.
About 74 per cent of patients in England were seen within four hours in A&Es last month, down slightly from 75 per cent in September.
Figures also show 54,314 emergency admissions waited more than 12 hours in A&E departments from a decision to admit to actually being admitted – a significant jump from 44,765 the month before.
The number waiting at least four hours from a decision to admit to admission also increased, standing at 142,734 patients in October.
At WWL’s A&E 1,081 patients waited longer than four hours, including 434 who were delayed by more than 12 hours.
Sarah Woolnough, chief executive at The King’s Fund, said: "After facing an awful autumn, suffering through the busiest October on record for A&Es, the NHS is now heading into a winter blizzard of pressures because of rising demand, industrial action, and a flu season that could be the worst in years – all of which will have knock-on effects for patient care.
"And while the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care this week announced redundancies created by cuts to local NHS bodies will be covered by recouping costs further down the line, none of this points to good news for staff or patients this winter, with a hospital waiting list that is stubbornly high at 7.4 million"
About 2.4 million people attended A&E departments across England last month, the busiest October on record.
The overall number of attendances at Wigan A&E in October was a rise of six per cent on the 12,330 visits recorded during September, and four per cent more than the 12,554 patients seen in October 2023.
This month was announced the NHS will be permitted to overspend its budget this year, to pay the £1bn one-off redundancy bill needed for the Government's restructuring plans.
The headcount across both NHS England and the Department of Health will be cut by around 50 per cent, with around 18,000 administrative staff and managers, including on local health boards, set to go.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: "It has been a difficult period of uncertainty for our members, and we know this has placed a strain on staff.
"We’ll await the full details but for now we are pleased to see that this situation has been resolved and that we can proceed with the redundancy programme.
"This will provide clarity for staff and help release savings down the line."