Rise in visits to A&E at the Whittington Hospital

More patients visited A&E at the Whittington Hospital last month, with demand rising above the levels seen over the same period last year.

NHS England figures show 8,286 patients visited A&E at Whittington Health NHS Trust in January.

That was a rise of 1% on the 8,179 visits recorded during December, and 29% more than the 6,409 patients seen in January 2021.

The figures show attendances were below the levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic – in January 2020, there were 9,561 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 1.9 million visits last month.

That was in line with December, but 43% more than the 1.3 million seen during January 2021.

At Whittington Health NHS Trust:

In January:

74% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

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

Of those, seven were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in December:

The median time to treatment was 92 minutes

Around 9% of patients left before being treated