Missed A&E waiting time targets worsen for Newham University Hospital

Attendees to A&E departments at Barts Health Trust's hospitals have risen over the last year. Image: Barts Health Trust (Image: Barts Health Trust)

The latest figures for NHS England show only 88 per of patients at the Plaistow hospital were seen, admitted or discharged within four hours in January, a drop of 3pc on the previous month.

Nationally the target for hospitals is 95pc – a figure that NUH has failed to hit since July 2014.

Over the last year, the number of patients who require the most urgent care within A&E has risen by 5pc from 7,121 patients in January 2016 to 7,482 patients last month.

Barts Health Trust, which manages NUH and four other hospitals, has seen a rise in its hospital admission figures overall.

Alwen Williams, chief executive of Barts Health, said: “Even so, we are letting too many patients down, and need to do more to raise our game and ensure the vast majority of people attending our emergency departments are treated promptly within the national standard.”

The trust said it was using “new ways to more efficiently assess and treat people” including an emergency pathway improvement programme which provides faster assessments and better management for the flow of admitted patients.

Jacqueline Totterdell, chief operating officer, said: “We are creating a ‘safer, faster and better Barts’ in our emergency departments, so patients do not have to wait longer than absolutely necessary for treatment.

“We are determined to get people on the road to recovery quickly, and provide a consistently safe and compassionate service, at any time every day - day or night.”