GWENT'S accident and emergency departments have had their busiest winter for seven years, with a 7.5 per cent increase in patients during January-March, compared to the same period last year.

The A&E departments at the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall Hospitals dealt with 31,643 patients from January 1-March 31, 2,220 more than for the same period in 2018, and the most since 2012.

Despite this last winter being less challenging in terms of extremely cold weather, the pressure on A&E departments - not just in Gwent, but across Wales - has been unrelenting, with increasing numbers of very sick patients, particularly among the elderly, coming in.

The rise in these so-called 'major' cases has often severely stretched emergency units, particularly at their busiest periods.

But despite this, performance against key waiting times targets has improved generally at the A&E units at the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall.

This is due in large part to the investment in time, money and staff by Aneurin Bevan University Health Board in developing and implementing its winter plan - a vital strategy for all health boards, working in partnership with councils and the voluntary and charitable sectors - to deal with the challenges that winter brings.

A focus on freeing up hospital beds to ensure patients who come in through A&E are able to be admitted in a timely manner, should they require admission, has been a major part of the most recent winter plan.

This has been allied to a focus on better management of demand in the community, through the likes of enhanced GP support to care homes, extended access to GP surgeries, and improved primary care out-of-hours capacity.

The 7.5 per cent increase in patients attending A&E in Gwent is a worry to health bosses, but there were some welcome, if small, improvements during the winter that indicate the plan has had a positive effect.

The percentage of A&E patients dealt with inside four hours improved in January, February and March at Nevill Hall, and during February and March at the Royal Gwent, compared to the corresponding months last year.

The biggest improvements came in March. At Nevill Hall, 83.1 per cent of A&E patients were dealt with inside four hours, compared to 78.9 per cent in March 2018, and at the Royal Gwent, 67.1 per cent were dealt with inside four hours, compared to 63.6 per cent in March 2018.

It must be stressed that - as with most A&E departments across Wales - these figures fall well short of the target, that a minimum 95 per cent of A&E patients should be dealt with inside four hours.

But these improvements in Gwent units in March came despite there having been 11,225 attendances at these units that month, 13 per cent more than during the same month last year.

Waits of more than 12 hours in A&E have also fallen this winter, though again it must be stressed that the numbers remain unacceptably high.

During January-March, 1,857 patients waited longer than 12 hours to be dealt with at the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall A&E units, down almost 17 per cent on January-March 2018 (2,234).