Romford hospital A&E patients still face long delays, board hears

Queen’s Hospital is still facing long patient delays despite an action plan to address a poor inspection last year.

The average time spent in A&E was more than five-and-a-half hours at the end of March – a long way from the four-hour target.

Waiting times was one of the major issues raised by Care Quality Commission (CQC) in late 2012 which found the emergency care department was failing on key national standards.

An “Emergency Care Improvement Plan” that involves 10 “workstreams” and is monitored by various meetings, was introduced as a result by the Barking, Havering and Redbridge Universities Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT), which runs the Rom Valley Way hospital.

Progress on the plan was presented to the Barking and Dagenham Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board earlier this month.

BHRUT has been given certain targets to achieve by August this year that include treating 95 per cent of patients within four hours – it stands currently at 88.5 per cent.

Chief executive of BHRUT, Averil Dongworth, said reducing waits for emergency patients was a “high priority” for her organisation.

An unannounced inspection to the hospital was made by the CQC recently which will be publishing a report on its findings.