Accident and emergency departments have missed the target to see, treat, admit or discharge 95 per cent of patients within four hours for the fourth week in a row as demand on the service grows.

The last time the target for all A&Es was missed for a whole month was in April last year.

Only 94.8 per cent of patients were seen within four hours across the last month, according to official figures.

This is a sharp downward turn from the same period last year, where the average was 96.6 per cent.

Both attendances and admissions have increased since the same point last year.

Around 100,000 more people attended A&E compared to the same time last year - 1.8m across all departments in the last month compared to 1.7m last year.

Similarly, admissions across all A&Es have risen from a total of 288,528 last year to 309,474 this year.

Major A&Es – which are consultant-led and open 24 hours a day – have now missed the target for 46 weeks with an average of 92.6 per cent patients seen within four hours.

President of the College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Clifford Mann, said: “These figures underline the need for significant action.

“The College has exhorted the NHS to decongest A&E departments by providing accessible alternatives for the 2.1 million patients who could be safely redirected from triage and to mandate full capacity plans to address the pernicious problem of ‘exit block’; failure to do so will mean these figures go from bad to worse and lives endangered.”

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