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 9,005 patients visited A&E at Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust in August.

That was a drop of 4% on the 9,407 visits recorded during July, but 13% more than the 7,998 patients seen in August 2021.

The figures show attendances were above the levels seen two years ago – in August 2020, there were 7,058 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 38% were via minor injury units.

Across England, A&E departments received 2 million visits last month.

That was a decrease of 8% compared to July, and the same number as were seen during August 2021.

At Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust:

In August:

There were 59 booked appointments, down from 69 in July

75% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

979 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit – 11% of patients

Of those, 36 were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in July:

The median time to treatment was 57 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