Wait goes on for patients at Wigan's busy casualty units

It was another month of long waits for patients at Wigan’s under-pressure casualty departments, new figures have revealed.
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NHS England has published data revealing the performance of hospitals across the country in February, as healthcare workers were continuing to deal with the spread of the omicron variant of coronavirus and the backlog of patients whose care was delayed earlier in the pandemic.

Compared to the previous month, it was a slightly improving picture for Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the borough’s hospitals, but the figures revealed there was still a high demand for care.

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It was another busy month at Wigan Infirmary's A&E unitIt was another busy month at Wigan Infirmary's A&E unit
It was another busy month at Wigan Infirmary's A&E unit
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A total of 11,328 people sought help at Wigan Infirmary’s A&E unit or Leigh Walk-In Centre during the month, a 3.77 per cent drop from 11,772 people in January.

But only 69.4 per cent of people were seen by the trust within the target time of four hours. While this was an improvement on 68.9 per cent on the previous month, it was below the national performance of 73.3 per cent and the operational standard of 95 per cent.

Wigan’s A&E department alone saw 54.0 per cent of patients in four hours – up from 52.2 per cent in January – while the walk-in centre saw 99.5 per cent of patients, just down from 99.6 per cent the month before.

There were 2,393 emergency admissions throughout the month, up 1.44 per cent from 2,359 in January.

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However, once the decision to admit was made, patients faced long waits for a bed due to demand for care in other parts of the hospitals. A total of 968 people waited for more than four hours, while 52 waited for over 12 hours.

Mary Fleming, the trust’s deputy chief executive, said: “As we come out of the winter months, we would usually expect to see a lessening of the pressure from that period.

“However, we continue to face significant pressure across all of our services and even though Covid-19 prevalence is declining slowly, the virus is still present in our communities and our hospitals, with infection rates still high in some areas and even slightly increasing in some groups, and attendances to our hospitals over the past week continuing to be above average.

“We continue to urge everyone to ensure they and their loved ones are fully protected and vaccinated against Covid-19 and continue to urge caution from the public to continue to reduce the spread of Covid-19 in our communities including practising sensible measures such as letting fresh air in if meeting indoors, or meeting outside, wearing a face covering in crowded and enclosed spaces, especially when in contact with people you do not usually meet, when rates of transmission are high, trying to stay at home if you are unwell, taking a test if you have Covid-19 symptoms, and staying at home and avoiding contact with other people if you test positive, and washing your hands and following advice to ‘Catch it, Bin it, Kill it’.

“Our staff are working incredibly hard to provide care and treatment to patients as quickly as possible, particularly those with life-threatening conditions and I would like to thank them, and the public of Wigan for their continued support.

“Essential NHS services remain open and are available for anyone that needs them, and we would encourage those who require urgent medical help to continue to come forward, but remember to use our NHS services appropriately, contacting NHS 111 first to ensure you are directed to the most appropriate service for your needs and only coming to A&E with genuine emergencies.”

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