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 – and attendances were lower than over the same period last year, figures reveal.

NHS England figures show 18,205 patients visited A&E at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in June.

That was a drop of 1% on the 18,304 visits recorded during May, and 2% lower than the 18,656 patients seen in June 2022.

The figures show attendances were above the levels seen two years ago – in June 2021, there were 17,636 visits to A&E departments run by Guy's and St Thomas' Trust.

Most attendances last month were via major A&E departments – those with full resuscitation equipment and 24-hour consultant-led care – while 25% were via minor injury units.

Meanwhile, around 5% were via consultant-led departments with single specialities, such as eye conditions or dental problems.

Across England, A&E departments received 2.2 million visits last month – down a bit from May, but slightly above the number of visits seen in June 2022.

The number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E departments in England from a decision to admit to actually being admitted was 26,531 in June, down 16% from 31,494 in May. The figure hit a record 54,573 in December 2022.

It comes as junior doctors have begun their five-day walk out in what is the longest spell of industrial action in the history.

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said: "Every new month brings more evidence of record demand across many areas of NHS care with staff experiencing the busiest June ever for A&E attendances, no doubt exacerbated by the record high temperatures experienced for that month.

"This ongoing pressure on services is precisely why it is so important to highlight that staff continue to make progress in reducing the longest waits for care despite strikes, high demand, and bank holiday weekends."

At Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust:

In June:

• There were 2,013 booked appointments, down from 2,126 in May

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

• 85 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit– less than 0.5% of all arrivals

• Of those, 63 were delayed by more than 12 hours