Drop in visits to A&E at Guy's and St Thomas' Trust last month

Fewer patients visited A&E at Guy's and St Thomas' Trust last month – but attendances were higher than over the same period last year, figures reveal.

NHS England figures show 15,180 patients visited A&E at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in February.

That was a drop of 4% on the 15,794 visits recorded during January, but 65% more than the 9,195 patients seen in February 2021.

The figures show attendances were below the levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic – in February 2020, there were 16,869 visits to A&E at Guy's and St Thomas' Trust.

The majority of attendances last month were via major A&E departments – those with full resuscitation equipment and 24-hour consultant-led care – while 23% were via minor injury units.

Meanwhile, around 4% were via consultant-led departments with single specialties, such as eye conditions or dental problems.

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 Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust:

In February:

There were 362 booked appointments, down from 499 in January

81% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

82 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit– less than 0.5% of patients

Of those, 29 were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in January:

The median time to treatment was 69 minutes

Around 2% of patients left before being treated