NEARLY a third of patients attending Bradford Royal Infirmary's A&E and half of those attending Airedale Hospital waited longer than four hours to be dealt with last month, new figures show.
NHS guidance states that 95 per cent of patients attending accident and emergency departments should be admitted to hospital, transferred elsewhere or discharged within four hours.
But Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs BRI, fell well behind that target in November, when just 68 per cent of the 11,271 attendances at its type one A&E department were dealt with within four hours, according to figures from NHS England.
It means 32 per cent of patients attending A&E at BRI waited longer than four hours to be seen last month, compared to 30 per cent in October, and 26 per cent in November 2021.
Meanwhile, Airedale's figures for November were more worrying when just 49 per cent of the 5,941 A&E attendances were dealt with within four hours, meaning 51 per cent of patients waited longer than four hours last month, compared to 46 per cent in October, and 38 per cent in November 2021.
The 95 per cent standard has not been met across the NHS in England since July 2015 – and nationally 54 per cent of patients were seen within the target time in November, down from 62 per cent during the same month last year, and 77 per cent two years earlier.
A spokesperson for Airedale and Bradford hospitals said: “As this data shows we, along with all trusts nationally, are extremely busy, and have seen very high numbers of patients in our Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments.
“We have to prioritise our sickest patients so we apologise to anyone who has had a long wait for treatment.
“It remains the case that some people could be treated appropriately elsewhere. Members of the public can help by making sure that if they do choose to come to A&E for treatment, that it is the best place for them to go to get the right care.
“A&E is for accidents and emergencies only, such as severe chest pain, difficulty breathing, significant head injuries and broken bones. Using an alternative to A&E when you aren’t seriously ill such as going to 111.nhs.uk, calling NHS 111, seeing your GP or visiting your pharmacist, could mean that you end up waiting less time to receive care.
“We are currently seeing a number of understandably concerned parents with their children in A&E paediatrics and would urge them to look at the following website for helpful guidance about the signs and symptoms of Strep A and scarlet fever: wyhealthiertogether.nhs.uk/parentscarers/worried-your-child-unwell/Group-A-Strep-Scarlet-Fever
“We are also seeing increasing levels of patients being admitted with flu much earlier than expected and would encourage patients to get their flu vaccinations if they have not already done so.
“Above all I’d like to thank colleagues in our A&E departments, across our hospitals and in our community teams who, despite the pressures, continue to pull out all the stops to look after our patients. I cannot praise them highly enough for all they’re doing.”
Imran Hussain, MP for Bradford East said: “In the fight to save lives and protect people’s health, the target for 95 per cent of patients attending A&E to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours of arriving is crucial.
“Yet last month, the BRI missed this target in one in three cases, with almost 3,000 people left waiting in A&E, often in great pain, for longer than four hours.
“These missed targets, however shocking, are sadly nothing new, with hospitals across the country missing the targets for seven out of the last 12 years of the unprecedented failure of this Conservative Government as successive Health Secretaries cut away at and underfund our NHS, our doctors, our nurses, our support workers and other healthcare staff. Instead of giving them the support they need, this Government expects our NHS to do more with less.
“Rather than vilifying healthcare staff, the Government must back Labour’s plan to close tax loopholes and use the money stashed away offshore by the country’s richest to recruit the next generation of doctors and nurses, get waiting times down, and provide the quality care people deserve.”
Naz Shah, MP for Bradford West, said: “Our NHS is not just on its knees but it's literally on the floor. We are past the breaking point. The question now is whether we can push the government to save our NHS.
“People can't get an appointment from their GP, they are waiting longer than ever to be seen in A&E. If they get seen then there are no beds available to provide the care they need and God-forbid if it’s an illness that needs treatment, they could be waiting months if not years for the care they desperately need.
“Yet whilst our hospitals are under severe pressure and facing the worst possible winter ever, the government is hell-bent on trying to shift the blame onto nurses and ambulance staff.”
Speaking about the A&E waiting times at Airedale, Robbie Moore, MP for Keighley and Ilkley, said: “The new figures from Airedale are extremely worrying and reflect the correspondence I have recently received from constituents about having to wait a ridiculous amount of time for emergency care.
“We need to get ourselves into a position where these targets are being reached, and I will be meeting with the senior team at Airedale Hospital to understand the root causes of these higher wait times.”
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