WAITING times at Worcestershire’s two A&E departments have steadily improved this month.

New figures have shown 91.5 per cent of patients visiting Worcestershire Royal Hospital and Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital were either treated and discharged or admitted to hospital within the NHS-mandated four hour period in the week beginning Monday, January 19, in comparison with 87 per cent in the previous week.

This shows a steady improvement since the start of the month, when the trust was suffering under ‘unprecedented’ pressure and as many as 21 per cent of patients faced waits of longer than four hours.

But this still falls short of the government’s required target of dealing with at least 95 per cent of patients within four hours.

The amount of patients visiting hospital has also fallen, with 2,020 last week compared with 2,986 the week before and 3,029.

This trend has been matched across England last week, where the four-hour target was achieved in 93 per cent of cases.

NHS England's director of operations and delivery Dr Sarah Pinto-Duschinsky, described the figures as "encouraging" and said the organisation would continue to work to improve the figures further.

"It is encouraging for the third week running that waiting times have improved and well over nine out of ten patients are being seen within four hours,” she said.

"This has been achieved despite increases in the number of A&E attendances and emergency admissions which are up week-on-week and up on the same week last year, but below the extreme record levels we experienced over the Christmas period.

"With severe weather and snow in many parts of the country, we are urging people - particularly the elderly - to stay warm and consult their pharmacist or GP if they become unwell."

Health bosses in Worcestershire have repeatedly urged patients only to go to A&E in a genuine emergency and to instead call NHS 111 or visit one of the county’s five Minor Injury Units in less serious cases.