PRESSURE on hospital emergency departments in Gwent continues to rise, with the latest figures showing a record level of attendances for July, and a fifth successive increase for that month.

There were 12,196 A&E attendances recorded - 7,706 at the Royal Gwent, and 4,490 at Nevill Hall - in July, up five per cent on July last year, and 12 per cent on July 2015.

The July figures indicate there has been little let up in demand at the two hospitals’ A&E units since the winter.

The attendance figures for March, April and May were higher than during any of the previous corresponding months for eight years.

While June offered some respite, it was relatively small. The 10,996 attendances that month was slightly down on June 2018, but was second highest amount for that month in the past five years.

The trend of rising attendances at emergency departments is not confined to Gwent, and neither is the effect on performance.

In July, 67.5 per cent of A&E patients in Gwent were dealt with inside four hours.

The target is a minimum 95 per cent, but despite almost a third of Gwent A&E patients waiting longer in July, other areas fared worse.

In north Wales (Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board) 61.9 per cent of patients were dealt with inside four hours, and in Swansea Bay University Health Board - Morriston Hospital A&E - the figure was 64 per cent.

As a measure of how difficult health boards and frontline staff have found things this summer, the best performance across Wales against the A&E waiting time target in July was at Bronglais General Hospital in Aberystwyth, at 86.7 per cent.

A Welsh Government spokesman said July was “extremely challenging for front line emergency health services, with the highest daily average of emergency department attendances on record” and the second highest daily average red call volume since the new ambulance response model was introduced in 2015.

They stressed however, that the “vast majority” of patients received timely advice, care and treatment.