NHS winter pressures: Figures reveal pressures on Sheffield hospitals – but waiting lists getting better

Latest official figures reveal the picture in the city for A&E waiting times, bed blocking and waiting list for NHS operations, as winter pressures bit across the NHS.

At the city’s adult hospitals run by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals including the Northern General and the Hallamshire, figure show that in December 2022, 20,263 patients attended A&E, with 73.6 per cent seen within four hours. The figure had been 75.7 per cent in November, when 19,383 attended.

For bed blocking, the average daily number of patients remaining in hospital who no longer needed to be there was 268 for the week ending January 8, a rise from 246 the previous week.

But the number of people on hospital waiting lists had improved. In November 2022, there were 80,151 – but this was down from 80,664 in October. The number on waiting lists a year before, in November 2021, was 62,845.

At Sheffield Children’s Hospital, figures show that during December 2022, 7,284 patients attended A&E, with 78.2 per cent seen within four hours. The figure had been 83.7 per cent in November, when 6,715 attended.

But the number of people on hospital waiting lists had improved. In November 2022, there were 15,518 – but this was down from 16,664 in October. There were 11,999 on the waiting lists in November 2021.

Craig Radford, chief operating officer at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our Emergency Department (ED), like all trusts across the NHS which have an A&E, experiences fluctuations in demand which means the time it takes to see individual patients can vary day by day.

“Across the year the percentage of patients seen within four hours in our ED is regularly above 90 per cent. During some winter months factors such as an increase in respiratory infections, such as flu and other viruses, mean that we unfortunately fall below the 95 per cent national target. This was the case in November and December 2022, including seeing a record high 341 patients in a single day.

“Visitors to our ED are prioritised so that those in most urgent need are treated first. Patient safety is our number one priority.

“Waiting lists are a national issue, largely as a knock-on from the COVID-19 pandemic. Our waits are longer than we would want them to be but we have seen our longest waits reduce and have plans in place to make sure that continues.

“Our clinical teams work incredibly hard to regularly review patients to ensure we are seeing children and young people when they need to be seen. We are also running more theatres and more clinics than ever before to reduce waiting lists.”

No comment was available from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, but last month, Michael Harper, chief operating officer, said of A&E pressures: “Like most other NHS A&E departments we are very busy in emergency care and our teams are working incredibly hard to see people as quick as they can. On average we see between 350 - 400 patients every day and this continues to rise particularly at this time of year.”

"We prioritise those patients in the most urgent need and around seven out of every 10 patients are seen and a decision made to admit to hospital or treat and discharge within four hours. Our waiting time performance is slowly improving, and we have taken a number of measures to try and help the situation. This includes creating additional facilities to assess appropriate patients away from the main A&E, investing in more doctors and nurses and working with the ambulance service on different ways of handing over patients.”

He also urged patients with minor injuries and illnesses to consider using the other care options in the city rather than A&E because their wait time was likely to be shorter and it left emergency teams free to treat the sickest people. Details can be found at www.sheffieldurgentcare.co.uk.