A&E waiting time at Lincolnshire hospital passes 30 hours in summer

Latest figures have shown that over 350 patients spent longer than 30 hours waiting in Accident & Emergency at Lincoln County Hospital during the summer, the longest wait being almost 50 hours.

 

The national target is that a minimum of 95 per cent of A&E patients should be dealt with within four hours.

 

Andre Morgan, chief executive of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said 30 hours was in “extreme” cases, adding “They (the hospitals) are really busy, we have more attendances than pre-Covid, we have got issues discharging patients from the hospitals so what that means is it backs up.”

 

Between June and July, 355 patients waited for at least 30 hours in A&E at Lincoln County Hospital.

 

Although the numbers waiting at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston were significantly lower, one patient at Pilgrim waited for longer than 50 hours in June before being admitted or discharged and the longest wait at Lincoln was 49 hours 30 minutes in July.

 

Mr Morgan apologised for staff and patients having to deal with long waits, but added that hospitals had a higher capacity than ever before and patients were staying longer than before.

 

He said “Our occupancy level has been at the highest it has ever been, so in effect the hospital is full.  When hospitals are full it is very difficult to admit new patients.”

 

Mr Morgan added that the trust worked closely with partners in the rest of the system to try and improve their ability to discharge patients to care homes or home care, and to encourage people to only visit A&E when they needed emergency care.

 

Chadwick Lawrence’s specialist team of clinical negligence lawyers have years of experience in medical negligence claims, providing support and guidance after life-changing events.  Not only do we represent clients in Yorkshire, but because of our reputation we also represent clients nationally.

 

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

 

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