Drop in visits to A&E at Gateshead Health Trust last month

Fewer patients visited A&E at Gateshead Health Trust last month – but attendances were higher than over the same period last year, figures reveal.

NHS England figures show 9,407 patients visited A&E at Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust in July.

That was a drop of 3% on the 9,659 visits recorded during June, but 16% more than the 8,115 patients seen in July 2021.

The figures show attendances were above the levels seen in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic – in July 2020, there were 7,142 visits to A&E departments run by Gateshead Health Trust.

The majority of attendances last month were via major A&E departments – those with full resuscitation equipment and 24-hour consultant-led care – while 37% were via minor injury units.

Across England, A&E departments received 2.2 million visits last month.

That was a decrease of 1% compared to June, and the same number as were seen during July 2021.

At Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust:

In July:

There were 69 booked appointments, up from 45 in June

78% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

896 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit – 10% of patients

Of those, 18 were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in June:

The median time to treatment was 60 minutes. The median average is used to ensure figures are not skewed by particularly long or short waiting times

Around 5% of patients left before being treated