Last week we celebrated the 65th birthday of the NHS yet new research  also revealed that 149,822 Londoners waited more than four hours at the 21 Major A&E departments between September 2012 and June 2013 – on average this is 3,800 people each week.  The new analysis over a seven month period of ‘Type One’ Major A&E departments shows that four hour targets were missed half the time by over half of these NHS Trusts in London.  

For example  the four-hour target for West Middlesex University Accident and Emergency Department has not been met for 17 weeks in the past seven months. The figures show that 2461 patients waited more than four hours at West Middlesex University A&E department.  

Last week, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson claimed: “The latest figures do show there has been an improvement and London A&E services have been exceeding the target, with 97 per cent of Londoners waiting less than four hours”. 

Ealing & Central Middlesex A&E departments are due to close and that will undoubtedly impact on waiting times of remaining adjoining A&E hospitals like West Middlesex as l had suggested already last December.

This new analysis is a shocking indictment of this government’s record. In one week alone last month, almost half of A&Es in London did not meet the four hour waiting time target. Bad weather affects the health of Londoners, with people generally being in better health during the summertime and therefore it’s easier for NHS Trusts to meet their targets. In December last year six hospital trusts failed to meet the target at any point, and only three met their targets every week that month. The tremendous winter pressures the NHS faces are now running into the summer.

I’ve written to the Secretary of State for Health to ask him to personally review the medical evidence behind each of the proposed A&E department closures or downgrades across London. There is growing pressure on A&E departments in London at the same time as severe cuts in social care, the closures of or reduction in hours of walk-in centres and the rise in population. Closing more A&Es will only make the situation worse.