A&E waiting times still below target

Waiting times in West Midlands hospital A&E times have improved slightly but are still below target.

A report presented to the NHS Birmingham and Solihull and Black Country Joint ICB Cluster Board highlighted performances in patients being seen within four hours of attending emergency departments.

Birmingham and Solihull (BSOL) hospital A&Es achieved a 73.14 per cent of patients being seen within four hours in July 2026 – an improvement from the 71.05 per cent in the month before but with still behind the 80 per cent target.

Among the work being carried out to address this, University Hospitals Birmingham and Birmingham Community Health Trust have released a business case for a system wide BSOL single point of access to address growing demand.

The report said: “The overnight model is designed to reduce avoidable hospital conveyances, particularly for falls and frailty, through GP-led clinical oversight, urgent nursing and therapy assessment, treatment in patients’ homes, and integration with overnight end-of-life services.”

BSOL is well on track in hitting its category 2 emergency call ambulance response times to an average of 30 minutes with July 2026’s average being 16 minutes and 28 seconds

Over in the Black Country, the four hour waiting time target remained at 78.2 per cent in July 2026 compared with the month before and aims to hit 82 per cent by March next year.

Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust and Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust both showed improvement but Royal Wolverhampton Trust and Walsall Healthcare Trust showed slight deterioration.

Actions being undertaken to improve include delivering flow improvement plans, including reducing length of stay and improving discharge processes.

And there was a significant improvement in the Black Country’s category 2 emergency call ambulance response times.

The average response time in July was reduced to 15.5 minutes from 21.48 recorded in the previous month.

Categories: Health
Authorities: Birmingham City Council

LDRS FAQsCopyright © 2026 BBC
Support