Rise in visits to A&E at the Royal Free London last month

More patients visited A&E at the Royal Free London last month – but attendances were lower than over the same period last year, figures reveal.

NHS England figures show 24,447 patients visited A&E at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust in September.

That was a rise of 7% on the 22,911 visits recorded during August, but 8% lower than the 26,511 patients seen in September 2021.

The figures show attendances were above the levels seen two years ago – in September 2020, there were 21,451 visits to A&E departments run by the Royal Free London.

​The majority of attendances last month were via major A&E departments – those with full resuscitation equipment and 24-hour consultant-led care​ – while 16% were via minor injury units.

Across England, A&E departments received 2 million visits last month.

That was a rise of less than 1% compared to August, but 6% fewer than the 2.1 million seen during September 2021.

At Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust:

In September:

64% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

1,831 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit – 7% of patients

Of those, 628 were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in August:

The median time to treatment was 71 minutes. The median average is used to ensure figures are not skewed by particularly long or short waiting times

Around 6% of patients left before being treated