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At BH in 2023-24, an average of 51.3% of patients were seen within four hours. In 2024-25, that went up to 63.%. During the past three months, an average of 76.3% of emergency patients are seen within four hours at Barnet Hospital.
The huge improvements are down to a number of factors, including a new model of care that has changed the way patients access hospital treatment and improved patient flow.
Barnet Hospital's urgent and emergency care department is being redeveloped, with the first phase of this completed in November last year.
The development supports the new model of care which allows patients to be seen and treated more quickly, helps avoid unnecessary admissions and increases the number of patients who can been safely monitored from home instead of in hospital.
As part of the redevelopment works, the new urgent treatment centre (UTC) opened last year. The new location of the centre means more patients are being treated in the right location, freeing up capacity in other parts of the emergency department to treat those with more serious conditions.
Other work which has helped to improve waiting times in the emergency departments include a 24-hour same day emergency care service and a new triaging model for all patients which has improved initial assessment times.
Additionally, a new frailty service allows older patients to access care while avoiding being admitted unnecessarily.
Director of operations Denis Enright said that he was so proud of all the staff for their hard work in implementing the new model of care.
He said: “Thank you to everyone who has worked on this project. This has been a real group effort with input from so many different teams. Decreasing waiting times for patients results in a much better experience for everyone so it’s so important to get this right.
“But it has been incredibly challenging. We know that even though we are not seeing an increase in attendances, the patients we are seeing are much sicker and frailer than ever before. This has been an incredible achievement but we hope to further improve waiting times further this winter.”
Image: (l-r) Emergency department assistants Felipe Balani and Joanna Fuertes; and nurses Sandra Sebastian, Riya Riya and Gay Malhi Catedral in the new ambulance handover area at Barnet Hospital.
