1 in 10 patients waiting over 12 hours at A&E
Around one in 10 people arriving at major A&E departments in England are having to wait more than 12 hours before being admitted, transferred or discharged, new figures show.
At some NHS trusts the figure is close to one in five, while at two trusts - East Kent and Barking, Havering & Redbridge - the proportion is higher than one in four.
It is the first time data has been published that measures waits of more than 12 hours from the point of arrival at A&E.
And they show that in February, 1,125 of the 9,570 people - 11.8 per cent - who visited QA Hospital in Cosham had to wait more than half a day.
All data has been rounded to the nearest five attendances.
In terms of the percentage of patients waiting more than 12 hours, QA was ranked 52nd in a list of 120 hospitals with major A&E departments.
The Trust with the highest percentage was the Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, where 3,350 - 31.3 per cent - of the 10,690 patients waited 12 hours or more.
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust had the ninth best figures - just 225 (2.2 per cent) of 10,080 patients had to wait 12 hours or more.
The Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - covering hospitals in Winchester, Basingstoke and Andover - saw 475 (4.7 per cent) of 10,195 visitors endure a 12-hour plus wait.
NHS England committed to publish data on A&E waits of over 12 hours as part of its recovery plan for urgent and emergency care services, agreed with the Government in January.
Until now, figures have been available only for the number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E from a decision to admit to actually being admitted.
This figure stood at 39,671 in March, up 13% from 34,976 in February but below the record 54,532 in December 2022.
Miriam Deakin, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, the membership organisation for NHS trusts in England, said the new data on A&E waits was ‘a real concern’ which reflects ‘the incredible demand-driven pressures on trusts’.