Two-thirds of people attending hospital A&E units were seen within four hours last month - missing NHS targets.

NHS figures show there were 32,995 visits to A&E at the Mid and South Essex NHS Trust in September.

Some 22,145 were seen within four hours – 67 per cent.

The NHS target is for 95 per cent of patients to be seen within four hours.

But the Government announced a two-year plan to stabilise NHS services earlier this year which set a "recovery target" of 76 per cent by March 2024.

Across England, 72 per cent of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged from A&E within four hours last month, down from 73 per cent in August.

The figure hit a record low of 65 per cent in December 2022.

In September nationally, 33,107 A&E arrivals in A&E waited more than 12 hours from a decision to admit to actually being admitted – up 15 per cent from August.

At the Mid and South Essex Trust, 2,715 patients waited longer than four hours, including eight who were delayed by more than 12 hours.