23 ambulances queue outside Worcestershire Royal Hospital A&E

An eyewitness counted 23 ambulances waiting outside Worcestershire Royal Hospital at 7pm on Monday, December 23.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust, which runs the Royal, said that Monday was the busiest of the winter so far, with 182 patients arriving at county hospitals.

Paul Brennan, deputy chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Demand on our emergency departments continues to be very high and the Christmas period has remained very busy with ambulance arrivals up nine per cent this year compared to last year.

“Staff across the trust are dedicated to providing safe, dignified, compassionate care for our patients, with everyone focused on putting our patients first.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank our staff and our partner organisations for their hard work during the festive period and also take this opportunity to thank them for their hard work and dedication throughout the year. We would advise the public to help us by choosing their health services wisely, and only attend A&E if they really need to."

During winter, NHS England publishes weekly reports which give insight into how well hospital trusts are managing – looking at ambulance delays, bed occupancy and long stays in hospitals.

Figures for the week of December 9 to 15 show that 1,122 patients were brought by ambulance to A&E at the trust's hospitals.

Over the week, 462 arrivals waited 30 minutes or more to be transferred to the emergency department – despite NHS guidelines saying all patients should be transferred within 15 minutes.

Of these, 178 patients waited an hour or longer.

Bed occupancy was also a under pressure. General and acute wards at the trust were 98.6 per cent full on average last week – significantly above the 85 per cent rate the British Medical Association suggests should not be exceeded to ensure safe patient care.

The occupancy rate was slightly higher than the 97.7 per cent recorded the previous week.

Above 92 per cent, NHS Improvement says that deterioration in A&E performance begins to accelerate.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust was more than 92 per cent full every day last week.

On average, the trust had 754 beds available to use each day last week , including 10 escalation beds, which are used in emergencies and periods of high demand. Just 11 beds were free on an average day.

As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, hospital staff are being encouraged to reduce lengthy hospital stays for patients recovering from an operation or illness. NHS England says the move is aimed at improving care options and freeing up 7,000 beds nationally – the equivalent of 15 large hospitals.

On Sunday, 271 patients had been in hospital for seven days or more at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust. They accounted for 36 per cent of all beds occupied.

Occupying nine per cent of beds, 66 patients had been in hospital for three weeks or longer.

Norovirus, also called the winter vomiting bug, causes vomiting and diarrhoea. As it is contagious, staff can close beds in hospital wards to prevent it spreading.

When the disease was at its peak at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust last week, six beds were closed.

The previous week, norovirus closed up to 29 beds.

A spokesperson for the NHS said: “Hospitals now have more beds open than this time last year, but flu and norovirus have kicked in a bit earlier so are adding pressure at a time when the NHS is already looking after significantly more people than ever before.

“The NHS has already looked after 1 million more people in A&E this year compared to last, and as we head into the holiday period it’s really important that the public help our hard-working staff by getting their flu vaccine now, using the free NHS 111 phone and online service for urgent medical needs, seeing their local pharmacist for minor ailments and ensuring they are stocked up on the medication they need.”