Drop in visits to A&E at the Royal Free London last month

Fewer patients visited A&E at the Royal Free London last month – and attendances were lower than over the same period last year, figures reveal.

NHS England figures show 22,911 patients visited A&E at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust in August.

That was a drop of 11% on the 25,803 visits recorded during July, and 7% lower than the 24,768 patients seen in August 2021.

The figures show attendances were above the levels seen two years ago – in August 2020, there were 20,475 visits to A&E departments run by the Royal Free London.

​The majority of attendances last month were via major A&E departments – those with full resuscitation equipment and 24-hour consultant-led care​ – while 15% were via minor injury units.

Across England, A&E departments received 2 million visits last month.

That was a decrease of 8% compared to July, and the same number as were seen during August 2021.

At Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust:

In August:

67% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

1,726 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit – 8% of patients

Of those, 520 were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in July:

The median time to treatment was 92 minutes. The median average is used to ensure figures are not skewed by particularly long or short waiting times

Around 9% of patients left before being treated