Patients wait over a year for Herts hospital treatment

National targets suggest that the vast majority of patients – 92 per cent – should start their hospital treatment within 18 weeks of referral.

But in August, just 51 per cent of those referred to Watford General, Hemel Hempstead or St Albans City hospitals had been waiting for 18 weeks of less.

Watford General Hospital The data is contained in a report prepared in advance of a meeting of the West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust board on Thursday, October 5.

According to the report, 578 Trust patients have already been waiting for 65 weeks or longer. Fourteen patients have been waiting for 78 weeks or more.

Meanwhile data presented to the board also shows how long patients are waiting for treatment in the emergency department.

National targets suggest that 95 per cent of patients seeking emergency treatment should be admitted or discharged within four hours.

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But the average emergency wait for patients who were not admitted in August was five hours and 21 minutes.

And those who were admitted waited for an average of seven hours 47 minutes.

There were, according to the data 775 people who were in the department for 12 hours or longer.

Overall, the number of people seeking treatment at the emergency department remained high, with 14,858 attendances.