Five per cent of Coventry and Warwickshire A and E patients wait over ten hours

Figures for the year to January showed that the trust’s A&E department narrowly missed its four-hour target, with 94.89 per cent of its patients admitted or discharged within four hours.

However the 95th percentile spent 327 minutes in the emergency department, against a target of 240 or fewer. While the target was met for non-admitted patients, the 95th percentile figure for admitted patients was 615 minutes.

A trust spokesman said: “It would appear that there is a system-wide issue and it is clear that improving patient flow is critical. We are working very closely with our PCT partners to implement a discharge-focused action plan aimed at reducing bed blockages in other parts of the system.”

The trust was also reporting a rise in delayed transfers of care, with part of the problem blamed on council funding. The trust reported a figure of 5.56 per cent which was significantly more than the target of 3.5 per cent or less. The trust’s performance report said there was “no nursing home capacity in Rugby at all and no care homes willing to accept standard local authority funding” to take discharged patients.