Welcome drop in A&E attendances at King's Mill Hospital

NHS England figures show 13,679 patients visited A&E at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs King’s Mill in Sutton, in February.

That was a drop of 3 per cent on the 14,149 visits recorded during January, but 7 per cent more than the 12,791 patients seen in February 2022.

The figures show attendances were above the levels seen two years ago – in February 2021, there were 8,986 visits to SFH A&E departments.

The majority of attendances last month were via major A&E departments – those with full resuscitation equipment and 24-hour consultant-led care, such as at King’s Mill – while 34 per cent were via minor injury units, such as SFH’s Newark Urgent Care Centre.

At SFH in February: there were 136 booked appointments, down from 150 in January; 73 per cent of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95 per cent; 895 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit – 7 per cent of patients and of those, 103 were delayed by more than 12 hours.

Rachel Eddie, SFH chief operating officer, said: “Demand for NHS services remains high across the entire country and we continue to work with our health and social care partners to ensure that patients can continue to access the treatment they need as quickly as possible.

“Thank you to patients who are awaiting treatment for their understanding while our colleagues continue working to reduce waiting lists.

“Before visiting A&E, we’re asking people to consider whether it is a genuine emergency as it’s often not the best place for their needs.

“If you need urgent medical attention when it’s not an emergency, please visit NHS111 online or call NHS111. Alternatively, please speak to your local pharmacy or check www.nhs.uk for advice.”

Thousands wait for treatment

The figures also show tens of thousands of patients were waiting for routine treatment at SFH in January.

NHS England figures show 46,740 patients were waiting for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at SFH at the end of January, down from 47,223 in December, but an increase on 38,990 in January last year.

Of those, 859, 2 per cent, had been waiting for longer than a year.

The median waiting time from referral at an NHS Trust to treatment at SFH was 12 weeks at the end of January, the same as in December.

Separate NHS England figures show, of 97 patients urgently referred by the NHS who were treated at SFH in January, 62 were receiving cancer treatment within two months of their referral.

A month previously, when 79 patients were referred, 51 were treated within 62 days. In January 2022, 49 patients were treated within this period, out of 93 referred.

Other figures show 1.6m patients in England were waiting for a key diagnostic test in January, up from 1.5m in December.

At SFH, 11,358 patients were waiting for one of 12 standard tests, such as an MRI scan, non-obstetric ultrasound or gastroscopy at this time. Of them, 3,648, 32 per cen,) had been waiting for at least six weeks.