HOSPITAL bosses say waiting times at Hull Royal Infirmary are set to improve after patients experienced some of the longest waiting times in the country.
Figures released by NHS England show just 73.5 per cent of patients at HRI were seen within four hours, compared with the target of 95 per cent.
The figures relate to the week from December 21 to 28, when the hospital's Emergency Department (ED) was facing extreme pressures because of high numbers of emergency admissions.
It led to the hospital being placed on "purple alert" last week with ambulances forced to queue outside for hours after HRI ran out of beds.
NHS England's figures show that while 2,100 patients were seen at HRI over the seven days, just 160 involved minor injuries or ailments, with the vast majority being critically ill and injured patients who needed to be admitted.
While the 73.5 per cent of patients is one of the worst rates in the country, it is an improvement on previous weeks when hospital staff were only managing to see under 70 per cent of patients within four hours.
Now, changes introduced by the new management team, under new chief executive Chris Long, are set to come into force by March.
A spokesman for Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust said: "We hope to see steady improvements in our ED performance over the coming weeks and months as a result."
Changes include the opening of a new ward on top of a podium behind the tower block and the centralisation of health care for the elderly at the Anlaby Road hospital.
This will eliminate the need for older, frail patients to be transferred from Hull Royal to Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham, which often happened in the middle of the night.
The new £7m ED, which has been undergoing renovation for more than two years, is also set to double the size of the department when it is completed, providing one of the largest resuscitation areas in the country.
Senior hospital staff are also working with NHS teams in the community for patients to be cared for closer to home, allowing them to be discharged sooner from hospital and free up beds.
With the next two weeks seen as the busiest time for any hospital ED, the spokesman said: "It is no secret that the trust has been experiencing a range of pressures across its services, including the Emergency Department.
"While we have seen a steady rise in the number of people attending ED over the past year or so, now averaging well over 300 people per day, we have also experienced other difficulties, such as delays in discharging patients, which have made meeting the 95 per cent standard a particular challenge."
Hull East MP Karl Turner described the figures as "shocking" and pointed the finger of blame at the Government as hospitals around the country declare major incidents because of the pressure on their EDs.
He said: "We have recently seen the worst figures with record trolley waits, record admissions and record numbers of people waiting more than four hours to be seen.
"We are seeing more admissions because people cannot get a GP appointment and are therefore presenting to A&E.
"The Government has closed walk-in centres and has dismantled walk-in centres and social care budgets have been slashed. Older people are being trapped in A&E because there isn't the capacity of the community to care for these vulnerable people.
"This crisis is deeply worrying and the Government's complacency is shocking."
Emergency department fell far short of targetFIGURES released by NHS England show a total of 2,100 patients turned up for treatment at Hull Royal Infirmary's Emergency Department between December 21 and 28.
Of those, 1,940 patients were treated in the majors department, which deals with the most critically ill and injured. A further 160 people were treated in the minors area.
Just 73.5 per cent of all patients were seen within four hours, far short of the 95 per cent target. And 71.3 per cent of the most seriously injured reached the four-hour target.
Just over 200 patients had to wait longer than four hours but under 12 hours between a decision to admit and them being admitted.
No patients waited longer than 12 hours to be admitted once the decision had been taken, in the week between December 21 and 28.
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