King’s College Hospital says it is ‘working to improve’ after it was found to have the ‘worst A&E queues in London’, with some patients waiting up to 12 hours to be seen.
After a decision to admit a patient has been made, 8.43 per cent of them wait at least another four hours to be admitted, discharged or transferred.
Specifically, 6.70 per cent of patients at the King’s College Hospital wait between four and 12 hours, while a further 1.73 per cent have to wait over 12 hours.
A spokesperson for King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust told us: “A&E departments at King’s are among the busiest in the country, and despite the majority of patients receiving urgent care in a timely fashion a small proportion are having to wait longer than we would like, which we are working hard to improve on.
“All patients are prioritised according to clinical need.”
They also added that unless in a health emergency, patients can help by making full use of the appropriate NHS services such as local pharmacies, NHS111 and their GP. Click here for more details on this.
The research, carried out by the personal injury firm at Claims.co.uk, is based on a three-month average of the NHS data from July to September 2023.
It also found that at least three in five A&E departments in England currently fall below the waiting standards pledged under the NHS Constitution – which is the ‘four-hour standard’.
This refers to having 95 per cent of all A&E patients admitted, discharged or transferred within four hours from arrival.
The study focused solely on analysing the waiting times from the moment a decision to admit has been made, known as the ‘trolley wait’ until the patient departed. This means that the total time A&E patients wait from arrival is even longer.
View the data here.