Nearly three-quarters of patients seeking urgent or emergency care seen within four hours in Wigan

The NHS standard is for 95 per cent of patients to be seen within four hours, but as part of a recovery plan, the health service aims for 78 per cent of patients to be seen within this time by March.

Wigan’s A&E unit has seen improvements in recent months in the proportion of people admitted, transferred or discharged on time.

New NHS England figures show there were 12,751 visits to Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) in July, up from 12,322 in June.

There were 7,301 attendances at Wigan Infirmary’s A&E department and 5,450 at Leigh Urgent Treatment Centre.

A total of 9,352 patients were seen within four hours across the trust: 73.3 per cent of arrivals.

This was a slight fall from 74 per cent in June, but an improvement on the 69.6 per cent achieved in July last year.

At A&E alone, 53.8 per cent of patients were seen within four hours, down slightly from 54.3 per cent in June, while 99.6 per cent were seen on time at the urgent treatment centre, up from 99.3 per cent.

Across England, 75.2 per cent of patients were seen within four hours, a slight increase from the month before and the highest level since September 2021.

There were 3,282 emergency admissions to WWL, the majority coming from A&E, which was up from 3,039 in June.

But once the decision to admit was made, 1,422 patients had to wait more than four hours for a bed – up from 1,220 the month before – and 186 people waited more than 12 hours, down from 258.

Nationally, 36,806 emergency admissions waited more than 12 hours in A&E departments from a decision to admit to actually being admitted, down from 38,106 in June.

However, the number waiting at least four hours from the decision to admit to admission rose slightly, from 128,114 in June to 129,330 in July.

Nigel Kee, WWL’s interim chief operating officer, said:

“Firstly, I would like to thank WWL staff and our partners across the healthcare system for their continued hard work and dedication.

“Our A&E performance continues to see improvements, with WWL achieving 73.5 per cent in July, making us one of the better performing trusts in the region.

“As some of those patients attending the A&E with a number of clinical conditions are needing to stay longer in the hospital to recover, this has an impact on the overall availability of beds.

"While we are seeing improvements in those patients waiting longer than 12 hours in our emergency department, we would continue to highlight the importance of supporting your loved one with their discharge from the hospital once they are ready and well to return to their place of residence.

“Clinicians will always prioritise those in most urgent need and WWL apologises to anyone who has experienced any significant wait for care.

"Our A&E 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.”