Bug blamed as hospitals fail to meet four-hour target for treating patients over Christmas

Feb 17 2009 by Alison Dayani, Birmingham Mail

BIRMINGHAM health chiefs who left patients waiting for treatment for more than four hours over Christmas today blamed winter bugs for the delays.

Officials running accident and emergency units at City and Sandwell Hospitals spoke as new figures revealed West Midland hospitals recorded the worst A&E waiting time figures in the country for patients needing casualty department treatment during the Christmas surge.

The region’s strategic health authority, NHS West Midlands health authority, had the joint lowest rate of patients being seen within the Government target of four hours from October to December last year.

A total of 96.9 per cent of patients were seen within the four-hour period, against a Department of Health target of 98 per cent.

A spokeswoman for Sandwell and West Birmingham Trust, which runs A&Es at City and Sandwell hospitals, said: “Most of the those target figures are due to winter pressures and the winter vomiting bug norovirus, which led to an increase in admissions.

“We are now back on track with the four-hour waiting times though and expect to end the year within the Government targets.”

The run-up to Christmas was so busy that West Midlands Ambulance Service managers appealed for callers to think twice before dialling 999, with more calls being received than ever before.

Dudley Group of Hospitals Trust faired the worst, making more than 1,600 patients wait more than four hours with their injuries in A&E, with the lowest rate of 93 per cent.

Other Trusts coming in below standard were South Warwickshire General Hospitals, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, University Hospital of North Staffordshire, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals, Heart of England, Walsall Hospitals, and Burton Hospitals.

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals, George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton and Mid Staffordshire Hospitals also failed to see patients quick enough.