ATTENDANCES by patients at Gwent hospital's A&E departments have increased in every December, January, and February for eight years in succession, according to a health board report.

While hospitals have largely coped better with the demands of the latest winter than they did in the same period last year, unscheduled care - for patients coming through emergency departments - "continues to be a key area of concern", warns the report, which goes before board members of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board tomorrow.

In Gwent in February, the latest month for which figures have been published, 70.2 per cent of patients attending the A&E departments at the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall Hospitals were dealt with inside four hours. The target is a minimum 95 per cent. Only one health board, Betsi Cadwaladr in north Wales, had a lower figure for February.

Performance differed considerably too between the hospitals, with 79.2 per cent of patients dealt with inside four hours at Nevill Hall, and 65.3 per cent at the Royal Gwent.

Increasing year-on-year numbers of attendances at A&E has, states the report, "resulted

in a corresponding increase in the number of patients admitted via A&E for each

of these periods, with increases in admissions impacting on the four-hour

performance".

Increasing numbers of more serious and complex cases - often involving older patients with a range of health problems that make their treatment more complicated - is contributing to the pressure on A&E departments.

Waits for patients of more than 12 hours reached 692 in January, slightly less than for January 2018 (726), though still far too high, and topped 600 again in February.

Another consequence of busy A&E units has been high numbers of ambulance handovers of patients which have taken more than an hour. There were 689 of these in Gwent in January, compared to 502 in the same month last year, and though February saw a reduction to 519, this was again still far too high.

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board will evaluate its most recent winter plan soon, to determine where it has been successful and where it requires improvements for future years.