Rise in visits to A&E at King's College Hospital

More patients visited A&E at King's College Hospital last month, with demand rising above the levels seen over the same period last year.

NHS England figures show 26,419 patients visited A&E at King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in March.

That was a rise of 21% on the 21,905 visits recorded during February, and 29% more than the 20,500 patients seen in March 2021.

The figures show attendances were above the levels seen at the start of the coronavirus pandemic – in March 2020, there were 17,938 visits to A&E at King's College Hospital.

The majority of attendances last month were via major A&E departments – those with full resuscitation equipment and 24-hour consultant-led care – while 42% were via minor injury units.

Across England, A&E departments received 2.2 million visits last month.

That was an increase of 19% compared to February, and 29% more than the 1.7 million seen during March 2021.

At King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust:

In March:

There were 1,709 booked appointments, up from 1,548 in February

61% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

2,021 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit – 8% of patients

Of those, 296 were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in February:

The median time to treatment was 108 minutes. The median average is used to ensure figures are not skewed by particularly long or short waiting times

Around 8% of patients left before being treated