Yahoo News See how NHS waiting times, A&E delays and ambulance times compare in your area
NHS waiting times in Accident & Emergency departments improved in slightly in March, but around the country thousands waited hours for treatment - and the North East is no different.
In March, according to published NHS England data, just two of the region's five acute hospital trusts - Northumbria Healthcare (84%) and County Durham and Darlington (77.8%) - exceeded the national 76% target for seeing patients within four hours. However, overall the region's hospitals were "perilously close" to meeting the target, health bosses said at the end of March.
At Newcastle Hospitals (72.8%), Gateshead Health (72.2%) and South Tyneside and Sunderland (72.8%) progress has been made but busy departments are still struggling. Overall, 50 patients at the five trusts spent 12 hours waiting to be admitted - one at Northumbria Healthcare, 32 at Newcastle and 17 at County Durham and Darlington.
Almost four out of every 10 (39.1%) attendances to all type 1 A&Es in England last month took longer than four hours from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge. A type 1 A&E department is a consultant-led 24-hour service with full resuscitation facilities and designated accommodation for the reception of accident and emergency patients. It excludes things such as walk-in centres.
That’s an improvement from 43.5% in February, and from 43.2% at the same time last year, but it is still one of the highest percentages on record. Meanwhile, 74.2% of patients were seen within four hours in A&Es last month, up from 70.9% in February and the highest figure since April 2023.
The NHS recovery plan set a target of March this year for 76% of patients attending A&E to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
Use our gadget below to find out how the hospital trusts and ambulance service serving your postcode compare, and also to see which kinds of care have the longest waits:
