Birmingham A&E departments & ambulance service fail to hit targets

Ambulance response times and A&E waiting times across the country are currently the worst on record, figures released by NHS England show.

As the NHS crisis continues across the UK, three of five hospitals in and around Birmingham and beyond were running above safe occupancy levels in the period running up to the New Year.

Pressures are mounting up on many aspects of England’s healthcare system.

And the latest NHS report revealed that waiting times for urgent Category 1 calls (people with life threatening injuries or illnesses) in the West Midlands in December 2022 reached and average of 9 minutes and 14 seconds, which is over the 7-minute NHS target.

Th figures show that all ambulance services across England failed to hit the 7 minute target for category 1 calls.

Trusts fail to hit A&E waiting time targets

Waits in Accident and Emergency departments also reached a new high, with just 65% of patients in England’s hospitals being seen within four hours in December, far lower than the 95% target.

The number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E departments to be admitted has risen above 50,000 for the first time.

A%E departments in England have targets that 95% of patients should be seen within four hours when they attend accident and emergency.

All A&E departments in Birmingham failed to to hit this target in December 2022, with ach of the trusts response times worse than in November.

At the Birmingham Women's And Children's NHS Foundation Trust, just 55.9% of patients were seen within four hours in December, compared with 63.4% in November.

At the Sandwell And West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, 65.2% patients were seen within four hours last month, compared with 72.3% in November.

At the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, just 49.9% of patients were seen within the four hour target, compared with 51.1% in November.

NHS staff facing ‘extreme pressure’

NHS England’s national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said the figures showed how hard staff were working in the face of “extreme pressure”.

He added: “As staff responded to record A&E attendances, 999 calls and emergency ambulance callouts as the ‘twindemic’ led to unprecedented levels of respiratory illness in hospital, they also continued to deliver for patients, with more people than ever before receiving diagnostic tests and cancer treatment.

“These figures show just how hard our staff are working, not only in the face of extreme pressure but also in bringing down the Covid backlogs and checking more people for cancer than ever before in one month.

“The NHS will keep its foot on the accelerator to continue to make progress on the Covid backlog and hospitals have today been asked to ensure anyone waiting longer than 18 months has their treatment booked in before March.