Rise in visits to A&E at QEH King's Lynn

More patients visited A&E at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital last month, with demand rising above the levels seen during the first national lockdown last year.

NHS England figures show 6,121 patients visited A&E at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn, NHS Foundation Trust in April.

That was a rise of 7% on the 5,742 visits recorded during March, and 74% more than the 3,527 patients seen in April the previous year.

The figures show attendances were above the levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic - in April 2019, there were 5,950 visits to A&E at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

All of last month's attendances were via major A&E departments - those with full resuscitation equipment and 24-hour consultant-led care.

Across England, A&E departments received 1.9 million visits last month.

That was an increase of 11% compared to March, and more than double the 916,600 seen during April 2020 - a reflection of lower-than-usual numbers for that month as more people avoided hospitals during the early days of the pandemic.

At The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn, NHS Foundation Trust:

In April:

There were 229 booked appointments, down from 240 in March

82% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

259 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit

Of those, three were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate data reveals that in March:

The median time to treatment was 27 minutes

Around 1% of patients left before being treated

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.

• king's lynn
• qeh