Drop in visits to A&E at Kingston Hospital last month

Fewer patients visited A&E at Kingston Hospital last month, figures reveal.

NHS England figures show 8,288 patients visited A&E at Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in March.

That was a drop of 11% on the 9,343 visits recorded during February, but in line with the number seen in March 2021.

The figures show attendances were below the levels seen at the start of the coronavirus pandemic – in March 2020, there were 8,457 visits to A&E at Kingston 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 33% 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 Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust:

In March:

There were 742 booked appointments, up from 271 in February

85% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

382 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit – 5% of patients

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in February:

The median time to treatment was 16 minutes. The median average is used to ensure figures are not skewed by particularly long or short waiting times

Around 2% of patients left before being treated