Drop in visits to A&E at Imperial College Healthcare last month

Fewer patients visited A&E at Imperial College Healthcare last month – but attendances were higher than over the same period last year, figures reveal.

NHS England figures show 22,276 patients visited A&E at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in November.

That was a drop of 2% on the 22,764 visits recorded during October, but 2% more than the 21,911 patients seen in November 2021.

The figures show attendances were above the levels seen two years ago – in November 2020, there were 16,551 visits to A&E departments run by Imperial College Healthcare.

The majority of attendances last month were via major A&E departments – those with full resuscitation equipment and 24-hour consultant-led care​ – while 29% were via minor injury units​.

Meanwhile, around 17% were via consultant-led departments with single specialties, such as eye conditions or dental problems.

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

That was in line with October, but 6% more than the 2 million seen during November 2021.

At Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust:

In November:

1,513 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit – 7% of patients

Of those, 119 were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in October:

The median time to treatment was 76 minutes. The median average is used to ensure figures are not skewed by particularly long or short waiting times

Around 10% of patients left before being treated