Campaign News
Gwent A&E coping well this winter
8:30am Saturday 4th February 2012
GWENT'S accident and emergency departments have coped much better with a traditionally "troubling" winter period - though achievement of the four-hour waiting time target remains elusive.
Despite last December having been far milder than the same month in 2010, and there having been no ice and snow to contend with, attendances at the Royal Gwent and Nevilll Hall A&E units were up by 200 in total, to 10,431.
But performance improved considerably, with Aneurin Bevan Health Board performance director Allan Davies putting that improvement down "largely to having a more stable service and improvement in (patient) flow" enabling staff to better manage the pressure.
"The five weeks from mid-December to mid-January are traditionally really troubling," said Mr Davies.
"Last winter, performance against the four-hour standard was 79 per cent at the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall. For that period this time, it has been 91 per cent at the Royal Gwent and 89 per cent at Nevill Hall."
Ninety-five per cent of patients attending A&E should be dealt with inside four hours, this target has been met only occasionally across Wales during the last two years, mainly at individual A&E units, rather than on a health board-wide basis.
December-only A&E performance figures indicate that around one-in-10 people - more than 1,100 overall - attending in Gwent waited longer than four hours.
As well as a milder winter, so far, another reason for A&E better coping during December and January has been improvements in patient handover times from ambulances.
Last winter, fewer than four-in-10 handovers were completed inside the 15-minute target, but the rate has improved steadily and this time around stands at around 60 per cent.
This means ambulances can get back on the road more quickly, and means fewer patients and crew are backed up at A&E doors awaiting handover to hospitals.