14.12.17
Winter pressures mounting as A&E attendances creep up by 4.4%
NHS England’s latest figures show that although the health service is responding well to growing pressure, it is close to “full stretch”, according to NHS Providers.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers said that although the NHS has prepared for this winter more extensively than ever before, it is “running at or close to full stretch.”
There was a rise of 4.4% in A&E attendances in November, and 4.8% in emergency admissions compared to last year, and yet performance against the four hour target was better.
Hopson said that the 76.1% reduction in 12 hour trolley waits was “particularly encouraging”.
However, the most recent sitrep data, published today, reveals that bed occupancy is running close to 95%, which Hopson warns is “well above safe levels.”
He added: “We also saw a sharp rise in the number of A&E diverts, and an increase in ambulance handover delays.”
Last week there was between one and six diverts across England every day. There were also over 2,000 ambulance handover delays of over 60 minutes throughout the week, although these began to reduce towards the end of the week.
This is the second consecutive situation report indicating that the ambulance service is feeling the strain of winter already.
“There was also a marked jump in the number of beds closed because of norovirus,” Hopson added, with over 1,200 beds closed on 10 December.
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