Drop in visits to minor injury units at Bridgewater Community Healthcare last month

Fewer patients visited minor injury units at Bridgewater Community Healthcare last month – and attendances were lower than over the same period last year, figures reveal.

NHS England figures show 3,670 patients visited minor injury units at Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in August.

That was a drop of 7% on the 3,946 visits recorded during July, and 19% lower than the 4,558 patients seen in August 2021.

The figures show attendances were above the levels seen two years ago – in August 2020, there were 2,952 visits to minor injury units run by Bridgewater Community Healthcare.

Across England, A&E departments received 2 million visits last month.

That was a decrease of 8% compared to July, and the same number as were seen during August 2021.

At Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust:

In August:

There were 176 booked appointments, down from 184 in July

99% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in July:

The median time to treatment was 59 minutes. The median average is used to ensure figures are not skewed by particularly long or short waiting times

Around 7% of patients left before being treated