by Nick Lillitos
nlillitos@thekmgroup.co.uk

For the first time this year our hospitals have hit their targets to see the majority of A&E patients in four hours.

It marks the sign of green shoots springing up at A&E departments run by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.

The four-hour target is an indicator set by the government. The target suggests good practice is to see 95% of patients in A&E within four hours of their arrival.

When the new hospital at Pembury opened in September, the trust was meeting its targets. But things started to dip in January – about the same time the KM was reporting how some patients had waited 13 hours at the flagship hospital.

The trust exceeded the target last month, scoring 95.6%, but in all the weeks since January, it was below the 95% mark, sometimes as low aa 87%.

Every month, the trust sees just under 9,000 patients at Maidstone and The Tunbridge Wells Hospitals.

For every percentage point the trust drops below 95% it estimates, on a weekly basis, that would translate to 22 patients waiting longer than four hours.

Full story in today's Kent Messenger.