QUICK action needs to be taken to avoid a repeat of last winter’s chaos at Worcestershire’s two A&E departments, a hospital boss has warned.

Last winter saw an unprecedented amount a pressure at Worcestershire Royal Hospital and Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital, leading to long waiting times, an ever-lengthening backlog of elective operations and some patients having to be treated in the corridors.

Speaking at a meeting of the board of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust yesterday, Thursday, May 28, acting chief executive Chris Tidman said some improvement had been made in recent weeks, but much more needed to be done.

“There are some immediate actions we can put in place,” he said. “We are looking at what we need to get on with and do now.

“There are some very obvious low hanging pieces of fruit – what we do need is to make change before we get into next winter.”

As a result of the pressures Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the two sites as well as Kidderminster Hospital, has routinely missed NHS targets on waiting times both in A&E and for elective operations.

The most recent figures show 83.99 per cent of patients visiting the two A&E departments in April were seen, treated and either sent home or admitted to hospital within four hours. Although this is shows some improvement since the start of 2015, it is still well below the NHS target of 95 per cent. At the Royal the target was met in only 74.26 per cent of cases.

Likewise, the amount of patients waiting less than 18 weeks for an elective operation stood at 87.33 per cent in April, below the NHS target of 95 per cent, while the overall amount of patients waiting for procedures stood at 25,291 – the highest amount for more than a year.

The trust has vowed to ensure it will achieve the four-hour A&E target by the end of June but, speaking at yesterday’s meeting, non-executive director Bryan McGinity said the organisation’s self-imposed deadline to have carried out at least 95 per cent of elective operations by September had been pushed back until November, despite recently opening a modular theatre at the Alex in an effort to clear the backlog.

Mr Tidman said measures already in place included an assessment unit at the Royal, which allows ambulance crews to offload patients much quicker and also avoids having to treat them in the corridor. He said plans were also being developed to extend the discharge lounge at the hospital, meaning patients who were ready to go home were not left on beds which could be used for others.

“What we have managed to do is take the pressure off the front door,” he said.

“There is still quite a high level of pressure, but the good news is ambulances are able to offload much more speedily.

“That’s not to say we’ve got it cracked – we’ve still got high levels of occupancy and we’ve still got patients who would be better seen elsewhere.”

He added more long-term plans were being developed to physically enlarge the hospital’s A&E department, but this would take some time and rely on investment.