Hospital boss defends wait time results
Sunderland’s hospitals have missed two vital waiting time targets – but the city trust is still outperforming most of the country.
The latest figures show City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Trust fell just short of the target of dealing with 95% of accident and emergency patients within four hours, with 94.1% seen in time, and 83.9%of cancer care patients seen within the 62-day deadline, compared to a target of 85%.
But the trust outperformed the average of 89.7% for A and E and 82.6% for cancer care.
And 94.5 patients were seen within the 18-week deadline for planned operations and care, beating the 92% target and well above the 89.4% national average.
Trust director of operations Dr Sean Fenwick said: “It’s encouraging to see that trusts across the North East are still outperforming the rest of the country in relation to waiting times.
“Although we have fractionally missed some of the national standards in September by just 1%, our results remain well above the national average and we are actually performing better this year in terms of patient satisfaction around A&E waiting times.
“This is testament to the hard work and dedication of all our staff.”
And he appealed to the public to do their bit to help staff through the tough months ahead.
He said: “As we head into winter all NHS services will see increased pressures.
“Our priority is to make sure we continue to deliver excellent patient care and to develop key services.
“Local people can support us by only coming to our Emergency Department if it is a genuine emergency and to otherwise seek advice from NHS 111, or their local GP or pharmacist.
“We have worked continuously and collaboratively with our commissioners and other providers to ensure there is an appropriate service to meet patient needs when the Emergency Department is not appropriate.
“We would also ask that those people who are at risk from flu get their flu jab as soon as possible.”