Hampshire Hospitals miss A&E target amid rising demand

November board papers, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, say the trust admitted or discharged 94.8 per cent of all A&E patients within four hours in October. The target is 95 per cent.

The worst problem was at the trust’s Royal Hampshire County Hospital, which met the four hour target for 92.7 per cent of patients.

The papers say: “All of our hospitals are experiencing significant pressure from emergency attendances and admissions.

“In addition we are having some difficulty managing the speedy discharge of some patients.

“The senior leadership team have been reviewing our capacity and identified some urgent measures to alleviate some of this pressure. This includes opening up some additional capacity which is partly dependent on the arrival of recently recruited nurses.”

The performance has continued into November, “making the quarter three target look increasingly challenging.”

Year to date elective activity was 6.6 per cent higher than last yaer, daycase activity was 11.1 per cent higher, but non-elective activity 0.6 per cent lower than the same period last year.

Performance for diagnostics waits of over 6 weeks was not achieved in October. 5.3 per cent of patients were waiting over 6 weeks versus a target of 1 per cent.