'Not the standards which we would like to deliver'
Hospitals in Coventry and Warwickshire bosses have apologised to patients after again missing A&E and waiting time targets.
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW) missed the A&E target – 95 per cent of patients waiting less than four hours from arrival to discharge, admission or transfer – in June at 81.7 per cent.
The trust, which includes University Hospital Coventry and the Hospital of St Cross, Rugby, has missed the A&E standard for the nine months running between October 2015 and June 2016.
In May, bosses at the Walsgrave hospital warned city residents to only come in if they are faced with a real medical emergency as it struggled to keep up with demand.
Some 88.2 per cent of patients at the trust had been waiting less than 18 weeks to start treatment at the end of June, below the target of 92 per cent, with the target missed every month since November 2014.
Across England, 90.5 per cent of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged from A&E within four hours of arrival, below the 95 per cent target for the 11th month in a row, although this was up from 90.2 per cent in May.
David Eltringham, chief operating officer at UHCW, said: “Like other hospital trusts across the country, we have experienced high demand for our accident and emergency services, and a high number of patients with complex needs who have required longer periods of hospital admission.
“These pressures can then have an effect on the delivery of other standards, such as the time between patients being referred by their GP and them receiving treatment.
“These are not the standards which we would like to deliver for our patients, and we would like to apologise to anyone who has experienced delays.
“We are working hard with our health and social care partners across Coventry and Warwickshire to ensure that we are able to discharge patients as soon as they become fit to go home or to another place of care.
“We would like to remind the public to consider which NHS services they use so that we can help manage the pressure on our emergency services.”
Something tells me they won''t be cutting his wages though!
