More patients seen within four hours at Wigan Infirmary's A&E department, new figures reveal

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) had a very busy winter, with reports of A&E patients being treated in fire exits and only two in five people seen within four hours, along with delays in discharging patients from other parts of the hospitals.

But improvements have been made over the past few months which have seen fewer patients facing long waits to be seen in casualty.

New data released by NHS England shows 72 per cent of patients at the trust were admitted, treated or discharged within the target time of four hours in May, the highest figure since May 2022. That was up from 71.4 per cent in April and from 70.7 per cent in May last year.

These figures combine the performances of Wigan Infirmary’s A&E department and Leigh Urgent Treatment Centre.

At A&E alone, 51.2 per cent of patients were seen in four hours, up from 50.3 per cent in April and 49 per cent in May last year.

A total of 99.1 per cent of people were seen in that time at the urgent treatment centre last month, down from 99.4 per cent the month before.

Across England, 74 per cent of patients were seen within four hours in A&Es last month, down from 74.4 per cent in April.

WWL’s improved performance came despite a large rise in the number of attendances, with 7,563 at A&E during the month, up from 7,150 in April, and 5,820 at the urgent treatment centre, up from 5,383.

There were 3,096 emergency admissions to the hospital, rising from 2,906 in April.

Once the decision to admit was made, 1,596 patients waited more than four hours for a bed, up from 1,585 in April, and 442 waited for more than 12 hours, down from 516.

Nationally, the number of people waiting more than 12 hours from a decision to admit to actually being admitted was 42,555 in May, up slightly from 42,078 in April.

The number waiting at least four hours also increased, from 134,344 in April to 138,770 in May.

Claire Wannell, WWL’s interim chief operating officer, said: “The continuing hard work and dedication from both WWL staff, and our partners across the healthcare system, is translating into improvements in our emergency department and I would like to thank them all for their support in helping us achieve this.

“Our A&E performance continues to see improvements, despite an increase in attendances, with WWL achieving 72 per cent in May, however, we are still seeing some challenges.

“With those patients attending the A&E with a number of clinical conditions, some are needing to stay longer in the hospital to recover which impacts the overall availability of beds. This demand, unfortunately, results in longer (12-hour) delays in our A&E department.

“Clinicians will always prioritise those in most urgent need and WWL apologises to anyone who has experienced a significant wait for care. Our A&E should only be used for life-threatening illnesses and injuries and if you help in these situations, you must come forward. For conditions which are less urgent, please use NHS 111 or consider visiting a local pharmacy, urgent treatment centre or GP practice for support instead.”