Drop in visits to A&E at Kingston Hospital last month

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

NHS England figures show 9,343 patients visited A&E at Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in February.

That was a drop of 1% on the 9,482 visits recorded during January, but 49% more than the 6,256 patients seen in February 2021.

The figures show attendances were below the levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic – in February 2020, there were 10,917 visits to A&E at Kingston Hospital.

The majority of attendances last month were via major A&E departments – those with full resuscitation equipment and 24-hour consultant-led care – while 28% were via minor injury units.

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 Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust:

In February:

There were 271 booked appointments, down from 321 in January

77% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

705 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit – 8% of patients

Of those, 148 were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in January:

The median time to treatment was 15 minutes

Around 2% of patients left before being treated