Hospital trust not meeting A&E targets because of winter pressure

Figures published by the trust, which runs Basingstoke, Andover and Winchester hospitals, show there were 6,400 breaches of its four-hour emergency department target in December alone.

The trust has a monthly target of 500 breaches.

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The figure for December was categorised as ‘red’, meaning the trust is ‘not performing well showing a large deviation from the monthly goal’.

It was the highest number of breaches during 2022, and almost double the breaches in December 2021, which were 3,363.

Meeting papers published by HHFT said: “The number of four-hour breaches in the emergency department have increased linked to the operational pressure increased admissions, longer occupancy and challenges with bed capacity. This is statistically significant and is outside of the upper control limit.”

The trust put in place a ‘critical incident level’ between December 20 and 23 and December 30 and January 4.

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Although it has since stood down from the critical incident, it said its services “remain under significant pressure”, adding: “Our partners across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are also continuing to face similar challenges.”

During December 2022, a total of 12,677 people visited the trust’s emergency departments.

Of these, 49.5 per cent were not seen within the four-hour target, which was a drop of 12 per cent compared to the previous month. The trust also saw an increase in patients waiting longer than 12 hours at its emergency departments, with an increase of six per cent at Basingstoke and five per cent at Winchester.

The trust said it faced “steadily increasing levels of operational pressure” during December, driven by a number of winter-related pressures “namely ongoing Covid infections and the prevalence of illness including flu and Strep infections”.