The deputy chief executive of East Lancashire Hospitals Trust said it is “doing everything we can” to see patients as quickly as possible, after data revealed it missed the NHS four-hour target for seeing patients in Accident and Emergency.
The NHS standard is for 95 per cent of patients to be seen within four hours.
However, the Government announced in a two-year plan to stabilise NHS services earlier this year a recovery target of 76 per cent of patients being seen within four hours by March 2024.
NHS England figures show there were 20,119 visits to A&E at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust in September, and of them, 15,060 were seen within four hours – accounting for 75 per cent of arrivals.
It means the trust fell just short of the recovery target, but does place it above the national average of 72 per cent, which also dropped by one per cent from August.
The figure hit a record low of 65 per cent in December 2022.
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Chief operating officer and deputy chief executive of the trust, Sharon Gilligan, said: “In the past, more than 600 or 700 people coming into the emergency department or urgent care centres would have been a real spike in demand, but we are now regularly seeing more than 700 people a day and, on occasion, more than 800 people which is a huge number of patients to support.
“We’re doing our absolute best to see people as quickly and effectively as we can, depending on clinical need and fully utilising our community teams to look after people at home where possible.
“I am aware we have missed the four-hour target, despite the incredible efforts of everyone across the trust, and that these pressures affect people and their experience as a patient.
“Whilst we have some long waits to be seen and subsequently admitted, I do believe we are doing everything we can in the circumstances and I want to thank everyone, in all sites and settings, for everything they are doing.
“Please help us to reduce some of the pressure by considering if there is a more appropriate place to seek treatment, particularly instead of turning up to A&E when you do not need to.
"If it is not life threatening or an emergency, use NHS 111 online or call 111 and a clinician will be able to advise what to do.”
In September, 1,451 patients at the trust waited more than four hours, including 1,115 who were delayed by more than 12 hours.
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Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at the health think tank The King’s Fund, said A&E departments have had a busy summer and are now facing a “punishing winter”.
He said: “A combination of thinking long-term about improving people’s access to out-of-hospital care, making health and social care a more attractive career, and tackling the biggest risk factors affecting people’s health, is what will slowly reverse the decline in NHS performance.”
The overall number of attendances to A&E at ELHT in September was a rise of four per cent on the 19,404 visits recorded during August, and 21 per cent more than the 16,663 patients seen in September 2022.
NHS England said last month was the busiest September ever for A&E attendances, as industrial action and high levels of demand piled pressure on services.
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Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said despite the pressure, the figures show NHS staff are “working incredibly hard to deliver for patients.”
He added the health service delivered on its ambition to roll out 10,000 virtual ward beds by the end of September.
More than 240,000 patients have been treated on virtual wards, the NHS said, adding that research shows people who are treated at home recover at the same rate or faster than those in hospital.
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