New figures have highlighted the intense pressure the Whittington Hospital estate was under during winter.
Every single bed in the trust’s sites were occupied on 19 days during the period, which ran from 20 November to 4 March.
And on average, wards were 97.2 per cent full this winter. This is well above the recommended safe limit of 85pc.
According to the British Medical Association, hospitals where more than 85pc of beds are occupied face a greater risk of patients receiving inadequate care, being placed in an inappropriate ward for their condition or contracting superbugs such as MRSA.
In total, 6,291 people arrived at the trust’s hospitals by ambulance. NHS England says no patient should have to wait longer than 15 minutes in an ambulance before being transferred to A&E. But figures show 56 emergency patients in The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust waited between 30 and 60 minutes.
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