Three in five people who arrived at accident and emergency at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust last month were seen within four hours, new figures show - despite incredibly challenging circumstances.

The NHS standard is for 95 per cent of patients to be seen within four hours.

However, as part of a recovery plan, the health service has an objective for 78 per cent of patients to be seen within this time frame in March 2025.

The previous recovery target was for 76 per cent of patients to be seen within four hours by March this year, which was missed across England.

Recent NHS England figures show there were 11,977 visits to A&E at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust in May. Of them, 7,331 were seen within four hours – accounting for 61 per cent of arrivals.

At Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, 1,218 patients waited longer than four hours, including 590 who were delayed by more than 12 hours.

In recent times the hospital has warned about A&E being very busy.

The overall number of attendances to A&E at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust in May was a rise of seven per cent on the 11,156 visits recorded during April, and one per cent more than the 11,805 patients seen in May 2023.

Rae Wheatcroft, Chief Operating Officer at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We continue to face incredibly high demand for our Emergency Department, with increasing numbers of attendances.

“Despite this immense pressure, our staff are working tirelessly to make sure patients are seen and treated as quickly and as safely as possible.

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“We know there is more we can do to improve what our patients experience, which is why we are reviewing all of our urgent care services to understand what changes we can make.

“The public can also help us by only attending the Emergency Department in a life or limb-threatening emergency. For minor conditions people can seek help from their local GP and pharmacy, or they can use 111.nhs.uk for advice about their symptoms.”

Across England, 74 per cent of patients were seen within four hours, a slight fall from the month before.

Figures also show 42,555 emergency admissions waited more than 12 hours in A&E departments from a decision to admit to actually being admitted – up from 42,078 in April.

The number waiting at least four hours from the decision to admit to admission also increased, from 134,344 in April to 138,770 in May.

About 2.4 million people attended A&E departments across England last month – the highest number on record.

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said: "As these figures show, demand for NHS services across the country remains high.

"May was a record month for urgent and emergency services, with the highest number of A&E attendances as well as being the busiest May for the most urgent ambulance callouts, while staff delivered a record number of elective appointments for April."

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