Darlington Memorial Hospital chiefs are tackling waiting time issues

The number of emergency department patients spending more than 12 hours in the A&E soared last year, from 22 in April to 520 in October.

Read more: What's the story behind this Darlington house which was one man's 'Paradise' for 42 years?

Over the same period, the average time spent by admitted patients in the department doubled from 271 minutes to 542 minutes.

The proportion of patients seen in four hours sank from 88 per cent to 68.8 per cent.

But there was an improvement in the time taken to assessing patients arriving at the hospital’s A&E, with the percentage of patients given an initial assessment within 15 minutes rising from 66 per cent to 74 per cent.

Warren Edge, County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust’s senior associate director of assurance and compliance, said: “We’ve seen a deterioration as demand to our front door has increased in terms of patients seen within the four-hour waiting times standard.

“But... in terms of what’s clinically very important... actually we’re getting the percentage of patients through initial assessment within 15 minutes up month on month.

“Then it’s more about having beds available to get them out to, that sometimes means that doesn’t translate in terms of what we do for the four-hour standard.”

He told Darlington Borough Council’s health and housing scrutiny committee: “There’s a lot of work being done across the whole system with our primary care colleagues and with the ambulance service as well in terms of making sure we’re all doing the right thing to optimise how we look after patients.”

The presentation put the slumps down to “demand pressures” and “the added complexity of managing increasing attendances and admissions with Covid-19”.

Councillor Gerald Lee said: “There’s a lot of criticism about A&E waiting times, particularly caused by Covid.

Councillor Gerald Lee

“Is there any real effort going into reducing these concerns and complaints? It is an important aspect and you are taking a lot of stick about it.”

Mr Edge replied: “There’s no bigger focus for anybody in the organisation.”

He said they aimed to “keep patients as safe as possible” with “as good an experience as we can”.

He added there had been up to £20m investment in A&E services’ staffing and resources, with a delivery group looking at “every aspect” including beds and ambulance handovers.

Cllr Lee suggested part of the problem was people “clogging up” A&E because they could not see GPs, and asked how this could be improved.

Mr Edge said: “It’s well understood. It’s looked at. There are actions... making sure they are providing as much capacity as they can to see patients.

“There is evidence that they are and they’re doing better than other parts of the country for face to face appointments.

“At Durham we’ve now got a primary care hub right next to the A&E department there so that people can be referred into that if they can’t see their own GP.”

Cllr Lee referred to the patients spending more than 12 hours in A&E rising from 22 to 520, “which is an astronomic leap”.

He added: “Are you saying that with all these things you’re looking at, that figure should now come down?”

Mr Edge replied: “It should come down and it’s starting to come down already, yes.”

Cllr Wendy Newall said: “I think this is a problem that’s been going on for some time.

Councillor Wendy Newall

“I think it’s fully understood it’s just a question of getting the message across.

“I’m sure we’ll agree that despite the challenges and pressures of the last year, progress is being made in many priority areas.”

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

You can also follow our dedicated Darlington Facebook page for all the latest in the area by clicking here.

For all the top news updates from right across the region straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on newsdesk@nne.co.uk or contact 01325 505054