A &E waiting times at the Trust that runs hospitals in Northern Lincolnshire improved during January
Although they were still higher than the same month last year
Accident and emergency departments in northern Lincolnshire remain “exceptionally busy” a health boss has said, as 801 emergency admissions waited more than 12 hours to be seen last month.
January’s A&E waiting time figures, published on Tuesday, February 14, were an improvement for Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLAG) compared to December. But they compare unfavourably to January 2022, with almost four times as many emergency patients waiting over 12 hours but also notably higher demand.
Dr Peter Reading, NLAG’s chief executive apologised for delays experienced by patients and said hospital beds being full delaying the transfer of people from emergency to ward beds was the main reason for long waits. He described the situation as “highly unsatisfactory” but added work to avoid hospital admission for patients who do not need it is now having an impact.
In January 2023, there were 12,039 total attendances to Scunthorpe and Grimsby A&Es. This was down a tenth, or 1,278 people, on the previous month. But it represents a year-on-year rise of seven per cent, or 819 patients, when compared to January 2022.
The proportion of people seen to at A&E within four hours improved by 4.5 per cent compared to December, to 57.6 per cent. The NHS has a target for 95 per cent of patients to be seen within four hours though and the England-wide average proportion of A&E attendances within four hours was 72.4 per cent in January.
Twelve months earlier, NLAG saw 62.8 per cent of its A&E admissions within four hours and 224 emergency admissions waited more than 12 hours. The start of 2023 saw 801 emergency admissions waiting more than 12 hours, down 17 per cent from 960 patients in December 2022.
“I’d like to extend my sincere apologies to anyone experiencing a long wait,” said Dr Reading. “Our emergency departments continue to be exceptionally busy with high numbers of patients attending, many of whom need admitting to hospital. We will always prioritise patients in order of clinical need, so some people may have to wait much longer than they’d expect or than we’d wish.
“The main issue is that when the hospital is full, we don’t have beds available to admit patients from Emergency Departments (EDs), so patients have to wait for a bed to become available – and unfortunately, our hospitals are full most of the time now. We appreciate that this is highly unsatisfactory and we’re continuing to work with our partners across the health and social care network to improve discharges to social and community care, releasing beds in our acute hospitals for patients being admitted through our Emergency Departments.
“This work is already having an impact and, together, we’re helping more patients receive the care they need without the need to be admitted to hospital – which is better for them and their families.  So, while we may be seeing greater numbers of patients coming to our Emergency Departments, the number of those who need to be admitted each month has gone from 27% pre-Covid, to around 17% now.”
NLAG’s hospitals also work to ensure patients are comfortable and well-cared for by nursing teams while waiting and specialist clinicians carry out regular reviews for the best possible treatment plans, Dr Reading said. “Patients are also given regular meals and refreshments and, wherever possible, they are placed in beds rather than onto trolleys and have the privacy of their own cubicle.”
“Finally, although we remain extremely busy, please do not hesitate to come to our Emergency Departments if you need us. We are here for you. However, if it’s not urgent, please consider contacting your GP, visiting the GP Out of Hours service, contacting NHS 111 or seeing your local pharmacist.”
NLAG ranked in January in the bottom third of NHS and independent sector A&E providers for meeting the seen within four hours waiting time target. But it did significantly better than Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, where more than half of A&E patients waited more than four hours to be seen, and which was the worst-performing A&E provider.