TARGETS MISSED: THE LOCAL health trust has once again failed to hit the national target of seeing 95 per cent of patients within four hours in Accident and Emergency.
The performance at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (WAHT) in May slumped from 84.4 per cent to 82.2 per cent resulting in particular in overcrowding at Worcestershire Royal Hospital’s Emergency Department.
Health chiefs blamed an increase in patients, up from 12,688 in May 2015 to 13,799 in May 2016, and a lack of beds, caused by patients fit to go home but with nowhere to go or no one to care for them.
The figures are a blow to the Trust, for which it will be fined, and means it is now well into the second year that it hasn’t hit the Government’s 95 per cent standard.
The Trust also failed to deliver the national 15 minute standard for assessment in Emergency Department (ED), although this had improved to 35 minutes compared to 46 minutes in March 2016.
