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 9,765 patients visited A&E at Whittington Health NHS Trust in March.

That was a rise of 22% on the 7,990 visits recorded during February, and 10% more than the 8,890 patients seen in March 2021.

The figures show attendances were above the levels seen at the start of the coronavirus pandemic – in March 2020, there were 6,565 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 2.2 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 Whittington Health NHS Trust:

In March:

71% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

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

Of those, 37 were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in February:

The median time to treatment was 88 minutes. The median average is used to ensure figures are not skewed by particularly long or short waiting times

Around 8% of patients left before being treated