Fewer patients spend above four hours in A&E at Shropshire hospitals
The number of patients waiting longer than four hours to be dealt with at Shropshire's A&E departments has fallen – despite more people being seen.
Attendances at the county's two A&Es, the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, rose year on year.
A total of 5,570 visited the hospitals between the third week of December and the first week of January – up 127 on the same time last year.
The number of patients admitted into the two hospitals also increased by 109 from 1,233 to 1,342.
But hospital bosses say that despite the increase in demand, breaches of the national four hour A&E waiting time target actually fell by 11 per cent.
The figures are good news for hospitals under pressure because of rising numbers of patients and a struggle to recruit staff.
But, despite the improvement, both hospitals are still failing to meet national A&E waiting time targets.
Hospitals are expected to see 95 per cent of patients within four hours of their A&E attendance, but latest figures show both hospitals are currently managing around 87 per cent.
In all, in November, 10,522 patients attended A&E units run by Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Hospital Trust.
That is down slightly from 10,858 in October, when 85 per cent of patients were treated within the four-hour target.
Debbie Kadum, chief operating officer at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said: "The peak winter period is always very busy for the staff in our hospitals and, as these figures show, this year has been no exception.
"Given these demands, it is pleasing to see that the number of our patients who had a prolonged wait in our A&E departments actually fell when compared to the same period in 2014/15.
"Whilst there is still some work to do to improve our waiting time figures, this is a step in the right direction, and I want to thank all of our staff and partners whose hard work has made this happen."
