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 7,990 patients visited A&E at Whittington Health NHS Trust in February.

That was a drop of 4% on the 8,286 visits recorded during January, but 27% more than the 6,304 patients seen in February 2021.

The figures show attendances were below the levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic – in February 2020, there were 8,732 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 1.8 million visits last month.

That was a decrease of 3% compared to January, but 43% more than the 1.3 million seen during February 2021.

At Whittington Health NHS Trust:

In February:

75% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

454 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit – 6% of patients

Of those, 17 were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in January:

The median time to treatment was 86 minutes

Around 7% of patients left before being treated