Walsall Manor A&E waiting times sink to new low
A&E waiting times at Walsall Manor Hospital hit a new low in January with performance falling well below national targets once again.
Just 75 per cent of patients were seen within the four-hour target mark across the month, 20 per cent off the 95 per cent target introduced in 2010.
This figure beats the previous record low for the Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, which was set just a month before at 78 per cent.
The figures indicate that the trust is falling well behind its A&E targets at a time when it is preparing for a re-inspection by the Care Quality Commission after being put in special measures last year.
A report detailing the performance for January reads: "Performance in January was 75.65 per cent, which is a decline compared to December 78.97 per cent and did not achieve the agreed trajectory of 93 per cent.
"The highest number of breaches that occurred were due to unavailable beds when required in the Division of Medicine.
"For December, the Trust ranked 108th out of 136 Trusts nationally and 10th out of 14 Trusts regionally, an improvement from 11th in November 2016."
The trust says it is hoping to improve on its performance thanks to a larger discharge lounge being introduced in mid-January.
Philip Thomas-Hands, chief operating officer at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust said: "Winter is a challenging time for our Emergency Department and we experience increased pressure as the type of emergency admissions we see become more serious, requiring longer hospital stays.
"This slows down our ability to move patients through the system to free-up beds. We urge people to avoid ED unless they have serious conditions.
"We recently opened a new discharge lounge in the West Wing entrance area of the Manor Hospital providing a more spacious area for patients compared to Ward 2 where it was housed before.
"We aim to complete at least a third of all discharges by midday and we have been seeing really positive results, with around 30 people a day being moved quickly out of ED to the bed they need.
"I would like to thank our staff in the hospital or in the community who are doing their best to support our patients, their families and carers and thank the people of Walsall and beyond."
