2 days Ago By Sonja Tutty and Data Reporter
The National Health Service (NHS) standard is for 95% of patients to be seen within four hours. However, as part of a recovery plan, the health service has a target for 78% of patients to be seen within this time frame in March 2025. Advertisement Advertisement Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to Milton Keynes Citizen, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you.
Recent NHS England figures show there were 13,057 visits to A&E at Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust last month. Of these, 10,144 were seen within four hours - accounting for 78% of arrivals. This is slightly above the national average of 76% of patients being seen within four hours.
Figures also show 28,494 emergency admissions waited more than 12 hours in A&E departments from a decision to admit to actually being admitted – down from 36,806 in July. Advertisement Advertisement The number waiting at least four hours from the decision to admit to admission also dropped, from 129,330 in July to 116,489 last month. At Milton Keynes, 384 patients waited longer than four hours.
It comes as the Prime Minister pledged to tackle long waiting lists, improve the nation’s health and shift the focus towards community services after a review by Lord Darzi found the NHS was "in serious trouble". About 2.2 million people attended A&E departments across England last month.
Advertisement Advertisement The overall number of attendances to A&E at Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in August was a drop of 8% on the 14,260 visits recorded during July, but 3% more than the 12,623 patients seen in August 2023. The NHS said emergency departments experienced the busiest summer ever with a combined 6,776,150 attendances in June, July and August combined - up 240,776 on the same period last year. Professor Sir Stephen Powis , NHS national medical director, said preparations had begun for an "extremely difficult winter", adding that Lord Darzi's review highlighted how waits across a range of services "remain unacceptable".
Siva Anandaciva, King's Fund chief analyst said: "We don’t need an independent review to know that NHS performance is bad and that the Government has received a troubled inheritance. "What we need is a mandate for change.".
