Wait goes on for more than half of patients at Wigan Infirmary's A&E department

While the summer months have traditionally been quieter for health services, hospitals across the country face continued pressure this year, including industrial action by staff and continued efforts to deal with the pandemic backlog.

NHS bosses in Wigan have made repeated calls for people to seek treatment in the right place and only go to A&E if their life, limb or eyesight is at risk.

New statistics from NHS England show 49.0 per cent of people were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours at Wigan’s A&E unit in July. It was exactly the same percentage recorded in May and June.

At the borough’s other casualty department – Leigh Walk-In Centre – 99.0 per cent of patients were seen in four hours, up from 98.8 per cent in June.

This took the overall performance of Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) to 69.6 per cent, up from 67.6 per cent the month before.

Across England, 74.0 per cent of patients saw a medic in four hours in A&Es last month, up from 73.3 per cent in June.

The NHS recovery plan sets a target of March 2024 for 76 per cent of patients attending A&E to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

A total of 12,320 patients went to the borough’s casualty units last month – 7,236 at Wigan’s A&E and 5,084 at the walk-in centre – which was up from exactly 12,000 patients in June.

There were 3,114 emergency admissions, with the majority (2,206) coming via the A&E department.

But there were long waits for a bed after the decision to admit had been made, with 1,424 patients waiting for more than four hours and 298 having to wait for 12 hours. This was up from 1,350 and 249 in June.

The number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E departments in England from a decision to admit to actually being admitted was 23,934 in July, down 10 per cent from 26,531 in June.

The number waiting at least four hours also fell, from 113,834 in June to 109,515 in July, a drop of four per cent.