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

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

NHS England figures show 8,532 patients visited A&E at Whittington Health NHS Trust in August.

That was a drop of 9% on the 9,354 visits recorded during July, but 18% more than the 7,261 patients seen in August 2020.

The figures show attendances were below the levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic – in August 2019, there were 8,778 visits to A&E at 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 6% compared to July, but 19% more than the 1.7 million seen during August 2020.

At Whittington Health NHS Trust:

In August:

80% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

346 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit

Of those, three were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in July:

The median time to treatment was 88 minutes

Around 8% of patients left before being treated