THE trust that runs York Hospital has missed three key patient targets in the last three months, according to NHS England.

However, York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said it had been extremely busy over the last few months and had experienced a significant increase in attendances at emergency departments.

Figures for the trust in period from March to May this year revealed:

  •  81.5 per cent of patients were treated or admitted within less than four hours of arrival at A&E - in line with the national average but below the target of 95 per cent.
  •  83.5 per cent of patients started cancer treatment within 62 days of urgent referral of their GP - above national average but below the target of 85 per cent.
  •  81.7 per cent of patients received planned operations and care with 18 weeks of referral - below the national average of 85.1 per cent and target of 95 per cent. The trust has not hit its target since July 2016.

However, the trust’s performance for a cancer referrals within two weeks improved - from 85.4 per cent in February to 95.6 per cent in May.

The report added that a new radiology workflow solution was being rolled out to help support faster treatment of breast, lung, prostate and colorectal cancer.

Meanwhile, 96 per cent of patients in York and Scarborough started mental health therapy within six weeks of referral - well above the target of 75 per cent and above the national average of 89.5 per cent.

A spokesman for the York trust said: “Our hospitals in both York and Scarborough have been extremely busy over the last few weeks and during April we experienced a significant increase in attendances at both emergency departments, up by some 1,681 attendances when compared to the same period last year.

“This means we have to cancel some elective operations and procedures at times of pressure on the system, to make sure that our hospital beds and resources are available for those who are most acutely ill.

“While the trust narrowly missed the target for cancer treatment, our figures were significantly higher than the national average.”