Lowest A&E winter waiting times in England at Northumbria hospital in Cramlington

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust saw 8,476 A&E admissions in January, 86.9% of which were admitted, transferred, or discharged within the NHS target of four hours or less.

Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust’s 0-16 year-olds emergency department was the only A&E service in the country with better figures for January.

In December, Northumbria Healthcare was the outright best in the country, seeing 76.7% of 10,342 A&E patients in the target time.

While thousands of patients in the trust’s care were still seen slower than targeted, Northumbria Healthcare is performing relatively higher than other trusts, with some seeing less than a third of patients in the targeted time.

The trust says comparing relatively good performance by the emergency department at Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington to other trusts is tricky, and that multiple factors impact the problems facing the NHS in different areas.

But it suggested use of a ‘discharge to assess’ strategy and the hospital’s discharge lounge were helping to free up beds.

Segregating elective and emergency care, the network of urgent treatment centres in North Tyneside, Ashington, and Hexham, as well as the new separate procedures unit in Cramlington also accounts for the trust’s streamlined emergency department.

Support from other hospital departments such as Covid-19 assistance from the respiratory unit; Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust’s mental health support for A&E patients; and community treatment for cardiology patients also help reduce the burden on A&E staff.