Drop in visits to A&E at Barts Health last month

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

NHS England figures show 45,785 patients visited A&E at Barts Health NHS Trust in June.

That was a drop of 1% on the 46,017 visits recorded during May, but 3% more than the 44,634 patients seen in June 2021.

The figures show attendances were above the levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic – in June 2020, there were 26,618 visits to A&E departments run by Barts Health.

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.

Meanwhile, around 2% were via consultant-led departments with single specialties, such as eye conditions or dental problems.

Across England, A&E departments received 2.2 million visits last month.

That was in line with May, and the same number as were seen during June 2021.

At Barts Health NHS Trust:

In June:

69% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

3,542 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit – 8% of patients

Of those, 396 were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in May:

The median time to treatment was 71 minutes. The median average is used to ensure figures are not skewed by particularly long or short waiting times

Around 6% of patients left before being treated