Hospital pledges to improve A&E waiting times

Royal Stoke University Hospital has taken measures to reduce delays

Hospital bosses have put forward an improvement plan in a bid to tackle ambulance handover delays and cut A&E waiting times.

About 67.5% of patients at Royal Stoke University Hospital were seen within four hours in the week starting 14 April – 10% lower than the target – with ambulance handover times averaging one hour and 40 minutes.

During a board meeting on Wednesday, the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM), which runs the hospital, unveiled a number of measures it was taking to tackle the issue.

This included working with GPs, recruiting a hospital ambulance liaison officer and diverting some ambulances to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

The trust's report said it was not the performance it wanted for its patients or the population.

It said UHNM would work with partners to deliver improvements in the hospital and in the community so people could be, where possible, treated closer to home.

Chief operating officer Katy Thorpe said the trust had seen some improvements since the winter period.

"Our key focus has to be improving access for our patients and improving flow throughout the hospital," she added.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.