Drastic surge in emergency waits highlights dire need for hospital rebuild

In May, just three hospitals nationwide saw more people spend more than four hours in their emergency departments than the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in King's Lynn.

The urge has seen the QEH's chief operating officer reiterate the 'critical' need for funding, due to an A&E department that cannot meet local demand.

The hospital, which currently has its roof held up by more than 1,500 props, saw 2,556 of its emergency patients wait more than four hours to be seen. This is a third of the 7,540 patients it saw in total - a record high.

The only hospitals in the country to have more patients wait this long were in Birmingham, London and Manchester.

The figure is more than 1,000 greater than the hospital's previous worst ever month, April this year, in which the four-hour target was missed 1,489 times.

The staggering statistic heaps further weight behind the trust's calls for funding for a rebuild.

The QEH is one of a number of hospitals bidding to be included in a government rebuild scheme - vying for one of eight remaining places in the project.

But repeated delays to the announcement have left the surrounding community on tenterhooks.

The hospital was opened in 1980 and was built from reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete that is fast approaching the end of its lifespan.

Population data from the 2021 census was released last week and showed that King's Lynn and West Norfolk's population had risen by almost 35,000 since 1981, to a total of just over 154,000.

Chief operating officer Denise Smith (Image: Archant)

Denise Smith, chief operating officer at the QEH, said: “QEH, like hospitals across Norfolk and Waveney, and across the wider NHS, continues to experience sustained, high levels of demand for urgent and emergency care services.

"We are absolutely determined, through our internal improvement programme and closer working with system partners to ensure our emergency patients more often receive timely care.

"We have an emergency department that has more than doubly outgrown its footprint and this is another reason that it is critical that QEH receives the funding it so desperately needs for a new hospital, which will include a fit-for-purpose department for our patients, to meet today’s and the forecast future demand on our service."

North West Norfolk MP James Wild, who says there are lessons top be learned from a report which warns the government's Bounce Back loans scheme could cost the taxpayer billions (Image: Richard Townshend Photography)

Earlier this week, North West Norfolk MP James Wild told the BBC he was hopeful a decision over the rebuild could be made before parliament rises on July 21.

He said: "I'm as impatient as anyone to get a decision."

Meanwhile, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and the James Paget in Gorleston also saw record number of patients in May.

The NNUH saw 20,293 patients attend A&E, 6,412 were not dealt with within the four hour target - a new record high for the hospital.

The James Paget saw 8,089 A&E admissions, 2,442 of which were not dealt with in the four hour window.