Drop in visits to A&E at the Whittington Hospital last month

Fewer patients visited A&E at the Whittington Hospital last month – and attendances were lower than over the same period last year, figures reveal.

NHS England figures show 8,787 patients visited A&E at Whittington Health NHS Trust in April.

That was a drop of 10% on the 9,765 visits recorded during March, and 1% lower than the 8,861 patients seen in April 2021.

The figures show attendances were well above the levels seen at the start of the coronavirus pandemic – in April 2020, there were 4,028 visits to A&E at sites run by the Whittington Hospital.

All of last month's attendances were via major A&E departments – those with full resuscitation equipment and 24-hour consultant-led care.

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

That was a decrease of 7% compared to March, but 9% more than the 1.9 million seen during April 2021.

At Whittington Health NHS Trust:

In April:

Just 77% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

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

Of those, 14 were delayed by more than 12 hours