MORE than three quarters of patients arriving at Colchester’s Accident and Emergency department were seen within four hours when it was under severe winter pressure.

Nick Hulme, chief executive of the trust running Colchester General Hospital, revealed 76.4 per cent of patients were seen within the national target in January – despite ambulances queuing up outside.

However, Mr Hulme admitted for the 1,627 patients who waited more than four hours this was “far too many.”

The figures were provided exclusively to the Gazette ahead of their publication in board papers next week.

Mr Hulme insisted the trust had not been in denial in January when quizzed about the severity of the situation.

He branded A&E at the time as being in the midst of a “prolonged intense period of activity”.

The volume of patients who perhaps put off going to their GP over Christmas, along with the severity of their conditions were said to have contributed to the cocktail of pressure.

He added: “What was different this year was that people said to me although it felt busier, it felt less chaotic and safer, even patients who were waiting on trolleys.”

Mr Hulme visited A&E almost daily around 5.30am and spoke to patients to ensure their basic needs, such as being fed and watered, were met.

He said: “Even when ambulances were building up, we knew who the sickest patients were.

“At no point did I feel we were compromising on patient safety.”

He said January’s “unprecedented” pressure had now eased, helped also by a nurse redirecting people away who don’t need to be there.

This week an “A&E super week” is being held during which every single system and process is being assessed by non-clinical staff to ensure it is running as efficiently as possible.

Mr Hulme said: this would include every single referral to specialities “so we can understand where the blocks are”.“By running a super week and looking at every single interaction, tracking every patient in a really minute way, that will allow us to build on our processes and see for example, if there is any duplication or do we have the right number of staff at the right time of day.”

The data will provide the trust with evidence rather than anecdotal “chat” enabling changes to be made, he said,

The NHS constitution says 95 per cent of patients should be admitted, treated and then admitted to hospital or discharged within four hours. Last year’s worst four-hour wait figure was 71.6 in March but they were typically in the low to mid 80s.

Mr Hulme backed the measure, adding:The great thing is every part of the hospital and system has to work well to deliver that. By having that fairly blunt standard everybody has to work together. “It is a really good barometer of how the whole hospital and system is responding to A&E.”