More than two in five patients seeking A&E care at the Royal Surrey County Hospital waited longer than four hours to be dealt with last month, figures show.

NHS guidance states that 95% of patients attending accident and emergency departments should be admitted to hospital, transferred elsewhere or discharged within four hours.

But Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust fell well behind that target in November, when just 56% of the 6,870 attendances at type 1 A&E departments were dealt with within four hours, according to figures from NHS England.

Type 1 departments are those which provide major emergency services – with full resuscitation equipment and 24-hour consultant-led care – and account for the majority of attendances nationally.

It means 44% of patients attending major A&E at the Royal Surrey County Hospital waited longer than four hours to be seen last month, compared to 50% in October, and 31% in November 2021.

At Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust:

In November:

  • There were 631 booked appointments, up from 604 in October
  • 618 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit – 9% of patients
  • Of those, two were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in October:

  • No patients left before being treated