Of 43,504 visitors to A&E at the main NHS trust serving Barnet in May, 33,377 were seen within four hours reports Clara Margotin, Data Reporter

About three-quarters of patients who arrived at accident and emergency at the Royal Free London last month were seen within four hours, new figures show.

It follows Rachel Reeves’s announcement of a £6 billion investment to speed up tests and treatment within the NHS, after setting out huge year-on-year rises in the health service’s budget.

The NHS standard is for 95% of patients to be seen within four hours. However, as part of a recovery plan, the health service has extended its objective for 78% of patients to be admitted, discharged or transferred within this time frame by March 2026.

Recent NHS England figures show there were 43,504 visits to A&E at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust in May. Of them, 33,377 were seen within four hours – accounting for 77% of arrivals.

This means the trust fell slightly below the recovery target and well below the original standard.

Some 75.4% of patients in England were seen within four hours in A&Es last month, up from 74.8% in April.

Figures also show 42,891 emergency admissions waited more than 12 hours in A&E departments from a decision to admit to actually being admitted – down from 44,881 in April.

The number waiting at least four hours from a decision to admit to admission also fell, standing at 130,035 in May, down from 132,040 the month before.

At Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, 2,840 patients waited longer than four hours, including 1,606 who were delayed by more than 12 hours.

Rory Deighton, acute director at the NHS Confederation, welcomed better A&E performance amid an “incredibly high demand”.

But he warned the chancellor’s record investment in NHS services may “not be enough to achieve all the Government’s manifesto pledges”.

He added: “The solution lies in the radical redesign of pathways, in particular outpatient services, which many of our members are already working towards.

“We look forward to working with them to spread best practice across the country.”

About 2.4 million people attended A&E departments across England last month.

NHS England said it was the second busiest month ever in A&E.

The overall number of attendances to A&E at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust in May was a rise of 5% on the 41,463 visits recorded during April, but 3% lower than the 45,076 patients seen by the trust’s two predecessors in May 2024.

Meghana Pandit, NHS England’s co-national medical director (secondary care), welcomed the progress made to treat patients quicker “despite another huge wave of demand across NHS services”.

She said: “Thanks to NHS staff who have delivered another record month of tests and checks while facing the second busiest month ever recorded in A&E, continuing to make progress in treating patients faster as we work to drive reform across elective and emergency care.

“We are determined to continue on this trajectory for patients as staff work to turn the tide for patients waiting for care, and while huge pressure on services remains, we are starting to see a real difference across our services – this is just the start of the work we’re doing to reform care and deliver improvements for patients.”

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