Drop in visits to A&E at the Lewisham and Greenwich Trust last month

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

NHS England figures show 21,678 patients visited A&E at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust in February.

That was a drop of 6% on the 23,062 visits recorded during January, but 38% more than the 15,728 patients seen in February 2021.

The figures show attendances were below the levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic – in February 2020, there were 23,560 visits to A&E at the Lewisham and Greenwich 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 42% 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 Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust:

In February:

There were 700 booked appointments, down from 891 in January

76% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

1,510 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit – 7% of patients

Of those, 244 were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in January:

The median time to treatment was 17 minutes

Around 5% of patients left before being treated