United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust on its knees, union says

Unison said the latest figures showed United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust was "on its knees"

The NHS in Lincolnshire is "on its knees" as figures show patients are waiting longer in A&E, union bosses have claimed.

Unison said the latest data for October showed an average wait of one hour 24 minutes, almost 20 minutes above the national average.

The union praised staff, but said they were under enormous pressure.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (ULHT) said its performance was "not where we want it to be".

The number of patients leaving before being seen in A&E is also more than twice the national average, at 5%.

Elliot Dean, East Midlands regional organiser for Unison, said: "These shocking new figures show the NHS is on its knees across Lincolnshire.

"Dedicated NHS staff are going above and beyond to care for the public. But they are under enormous pressure, with heavier workloads and too few staff."

In November, ambulances had to queue outside Lincoln County Hospital

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, director of operations at ULHT Simon Evans apologised for the trust's A&E performance.

"Over recent months we have seen a significant increase in the number of very poorly patients, as well as cases of the winter vomiting bug norovirus and, more recently, flu," he said.

"This has coincided with a reduction in the number of patients being discharged from our hospitals, which has unfortunately resulted in long delays for some of our patients in A&E."

The delays have also had a knock-on effect on other services, with ambulances having to queue outside Lincoln's A&E due to being unable to handover patients.

• More news from across Lincolnshire