Peterborough City Hospital among busiest hospitals in the country – with almost 99 per cent of beds taken

Peterborough City Hospital is among the busiest hospitals in the country – with almost 99 per cent of all available beds occupied, according to official NHS figures.

The data revealed, in the seven days to January 1 this year, an average of 98.7 per cent of beds available per day at Peterborough City Hospital were being used.

Of the hospital’s 600 available beds an average of 592 were taken each day – leaving only eight beds free.

More than half of patients at Peterborough City Hospital’s emergency department and urgent treatment centre experienced wait times of over four hours to be seen.

Just 49.3 per cent were seen within the NHS target wait time of under four hours.

It comes as patients are being treated in corridors – and in the case of Mike Pickering from Bretton, waiting 22 hours for care.

‘Temporary corridor care’

Jo Bennis, chief nurse for North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Peterborough City Hospital and Hinchingbrooke Hospital, said: “Winter is always a challenging time for healthcare providers as respiratory illnesses are more prevalent and the very cold weather can exacerbate accidents and other ailments. We are doing all we can to reduce waiting times in our emergency department by redeploying more staff to support the teams on duty.

“Patient safety remains a priority and we strive to ensure that all patients receive the best possible care in our hospitals. We are seeing an increase in the number of

attendances to our Emergency Departments. Whilst we care for more people, the safety of patients remains an absolute priority. We encourage our local community to use NHS 111 for advice on where to access the most appropriate treatment for their healthcare needs before they come to hospital.”

"On occasions, suitable patients may encounter temporary corridor care. Whilst this is not ideal, we aim to get patients in a bed as soon as possible."

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust hospitals – which include Peterborough City Hospital, Hichingbrooke Hospital and Stamford & Rutland Hospital – were the second busiest in the country.

A total of 93.2 per cent (875) of the 902 beds available across the trust’s hospitals were occupied from December 26 to January 1 this year – three per cent above the national average.

It comes a pressure continues to mount on the NHS and A&E departments at hospitals across the country.

A&E waiting times, including ambulance queues outside hospitals, are on the rise – as well as the time it takes for patients to receive treatment.

Ambulance queues at A&E

In the same period of seven days leading up to January 1, 70 per cent of the 572 ambulances which arrived at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust hospitals waited 30 minutes or more to hand over their patients to A&E staff, according to NHS England figures.

It should only take 15 minutes.

This was 26 per cent higher than the England average (44 per cent) within that time frame.

In 2019, only 35 per cent of the 1,049 ambulance arrivals at the trust waited over half an hour.

A&E wait times

In November last year, 40 per cent of A&E patients experienced long waits of more than the NHS target wait time of four hours at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust hospitals.

This was up on the 27 per cent at the trust in 2019 – and five per cent above the national average.

Waits for treatment

Of the 71,240 people on the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust waiting list, 43 per cent had to wait longer than the NHS target time of 18 weeks for routine treatments in October 2022 – two per cent higher than the England average, according to the latest data.

One third of 111 calls abandoned

One third of calls to the non-emergency NHS 111 number were abandoned by the caller, latest NHS England figures show.

NHS England has said the service is experiencing levels of demand not seen since the start of the Covid pandemic.