Three in five people who arrived at accident and emergency at the North Cumbria Integrated Care Trust (NCIC) were seen within four hours last month, new figures show – missing the Government's latest NHS target.

Last year, the Government announced a two-year plan to stabilise NHS services which set a recovery target of 76 per cent of patients being seen within four hours by March this year. The original NHS standard is 95 per cent.

NHS England figures show there were 11,351 visits to A&E at NCIC in March. Of them, 7,008 were seen within four hours – accounting for 62 per cent of arrivals.

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A spokesperson for NCIC said: “In March, we saw attendances to our A&E and Urgent Treatment Centres increase by over 1,000 compared to the month before, with a total of 11,351 people visiting our emergency departments and over 3,000 who then required emergency admission.

“1 in 2 of patients waiting in A&E waited for four hours or less. 99 out of 100 (99%) of patients who visited the Urgent Treatment Centre were seen within four hours.

We would urge anyone to consider using an Urgent Treatment Centre if their condition is not life-threatening.”