Drop in number of visits to A&E at Royal Cornwall Hospital
But attendances were still higher than the same month last year
Fewer patients visited A&E at Royal Cornwall Hospitals last month – but attendances were higher than over the same period last year, figures reveal.
NHS England figures show 14,377 patients visited A&E at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust in October.
That was a drop of 5% on the 15,188 visits recorded during September, but 19% more than the 12,051 patients seen in October 2020.
The figures show attendances were below the levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic – in October 2019, there were 16,955 visits to A&E at Royal Cornwall Hospitals.
The majority of attendances last month were via minor A&E departments – those which treat minor injuries and illnesses such as fractures, cuts and bruises – while 41% were via major departments, with full resuscitation equipment and 24-hour consultant-led care.
Across England, A&E departments received 2.2 million visits last month.
That was an increase of 2% compared to September, and 36% more than the 1.6 million seen during October 2020.
It comes as NHS waiting lists, ambulance response times, and even trolley waits in A&E are at all-time highs across England.
In October, paramedics took on average nearly 54 minutes to reach stroke victims, and almost nine and a half minutes to get to immediately life-threatening cases.
At Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust:
In October:
75% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%
1,249 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit
Of those, 404 were delayed by more than 12 hours
Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in September:
The median time to treatment was 114 minutes
Around 3% of patients left before being treated
You can find the source data here and here.