Patients are waiting too long for treatment at the Countess of Chester Hospital , it has been revealed,
Data from NHS England shows the hospital has been unable to meet the NHS’s 95 per cent A&E target of patients waiting less than four hours from arrival to discharge, admission or transfer for 11 consecutive months.
The measure went monthly in June 2015.
The data also reveals patients at the hospital are waiting longer than they should be to begin cancer treatment.
At the Countess of Chester Hospital, 91.6 per cent of patients had been waiting less than 18 weeks to start treatment at the end of July.
However, for the tenth consecutive month, it did not meet the 92 per cent target.
Operations director at the Countess of Chester Hospital, Lorraine Burnett, said: “We are seeing more demand for hospital care which is impacting on our ability to achieve these targets.
“We would like to reassure people that nine out of 10 patients are still admitted or discharged from our A&E within four hours and last month we achieved the 18 week target from referral to treatment.
“We continue to work hard to improve the service but we cannot under estimate the challenges we face as winter approaches.
“Feedback from the majority of patients remains positive thanks to the hard work and dedication of our staff who work under pressure every day, often staying on beyond the end of their shifts to ensure patients receive the care they need.”
The Countess of Chester Hospital claims it has improved its performance against the 18 week target over the past six months, however A&E performance is an ongoing challenge.
