"Disappointed"

On behalf of the Emergency Department, I would like to sincerely apologise for your waiting time. The national expected standard is 95% of people attending Emergency Departments to be assessed, treated and either discharged or admitted to a hospital bed within four hours. Unfortunately, all Emergency Departments in the UK are under tremendous pressures with an increased number of attendances every year. This national target has not been met by the majority of NHS trusts in England and Wales. We also face a national crisis with regards to adequate staffing. The current situation has been extensively portrayed by the media for the past year or more. Unfortunately, Colchester General Hospital is not different and while improvement plans do exist, they take time to be fully implemented and operational. At times, even if the area you waited in did not seem too busy, staff may deal with life-threatening conditions or with very ill patients in other areas of the department, so people presenting to us with less severe injuries and conditions have to be delayed as a direct consequence of the pressures we face. We do understand every person attending Emergency Department have their own emergency and rightly expect adequate and promptly delivered care. We fell below the current expected standards for which I sincerely apologise and, if it had not been done at that time, at least expected waiting times should have been communicated. Having an assessment by the triage nurse within 30 minutes of arrival and required investigations initiated is a safety net for us to ensure patients with life-threatening conditions are recognised early. Due to the nature of our work, our main priority when our resources are exceeded is to ensure clinical safety and prioritisation. While your experience is not taken lightly by us, we would like to assure you that we take every possible step to improve our waiting times. Should you need further clarifications or details of projects to improve our performance, please do not hesitate to contact us directly. The Trust's Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) is able to assist with all enquiries. Mr D Stanciu – Emergency Medicine Consultant and Clinical Lead for Emergency Department