A north London NHS Trust has been ranked as the worst in the capital for A&E waiting times in a new report.

Whittington Health NHS Trust reportedly had the highest percentage of patients waiting over four hours to be seen at its A&E, at 41.2 per cent, over the past three months.

The Trust includes Whittington Hospital, as well as other community care services for people living in Islington and Haringey.

This finding is part of an A&E Waiting Time Report, which ranked NHS trusts by the percentage of people waiting more than four hours in their A&E departments in the third quarter of the 2023-24 fiscal year.

The number of patients at Whittington Health NHS Trust waiting more than four hours was 10,826 over the quarter, or around 3,600 per month.

The report showed that other trusts in north London also recorded long waiting times.

North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust had 37.3 per cent of their 48,783 patients waiting more than four hours in A&E.

This figure totalled 18,203 individuals, equal to roughly 6,068 each month.
King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust each also saw 37.3 per cent of their patients enduring A&E waits over the four-hour threshold.

In these hospitals, that meant an average of 9,123 and 9,505 patients respectively faced prolonged waiting times each month.

Elsewhere, Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust had the lowest percentage of patients waiting more than four hours at A&E departments, at 18.3 per cent.

Overall, Barts Health NHS Trust had the highest total A&E attendees in London - a staggering 125,795, with nearly 43,000 of these waiting more than four hours.

The report, put together by ePower Trucks and Online Marketing Surgery, provides a snapshot of pressures on A&E departments across London.

Their figures were calculated using data sourced from the NHS website.

The average number of patients waiting over four hours per month was calculated by dividing the total number waiting over that threshold by three - the number of months in the study period.

Those trusts with no available waiting times data were excluded from the report.

A spokesperson from Whittington Health NHS Trust said: "Whittington Health has worked hard as part of the north London NHS system to support high levels of demand for A&E for a period during which the NHS was affected by extensive industrial action.

"We have opened up two wards, in December and January, a total of 48 additional beds, to enable us to provide a better service to urgent and emergency patients over winter.

"Many of those waiting more than four hours, though, are those with the least serious conditions. Unless it’s clearly an emergency, we urge local people to dial 111 before coming in, and to use GP, out of hours and pharmacy services where appropriate, in line with the guidance on our website."