by Angela Cole
acole@thekmgroup.co.uk

Patients can find out how long they will have to wait in A&E – before leaving home.

Live information on the average waiting time and how many people are in the queue for emergency treatment at Maidstone Hospital and the Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury is now available online.

The real-time service, which updates constantly, was launched on FridayJuly 20 by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.

It comes after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) issued a formal warning to the Trust in February after finding its accident and emergency unit at the new Pembury hospital overstretched, understaffed and failing patients.

On the website this week, waiting times at both sites were typically around an hour, with the number of patients waiting tending to be less at Maidstone than at Pembury.

Tunbridge Wells MP Greg Clark (Con), who pressed chief executive Glenn Douglas to bring in the new service, said: “One of the problems that the Trust told me was contributing to the longer waiting times at the A&E department of the Tunbridge Wells Hospital is that demand has been much higher than expected.

"If I knew that there were long waiting times at Tunbridge Wells, I would definitely consider going to Maidstone instead. Having live information available helps people make this choice so I am delighted that the NHS Trust has agreed to do this.”

A trust spokesman added: “While emergencies and critically ill patients will always be seen as a priority in our A&E departments, other patients with minor injuries will be able to decide where to go for treatment – a decision which could be influenced by the information on the website.
“However, it must be emphasised that the website waiting times should only be used as a guide, as the times shown cannot be guaranteed.

To access the information visit www.mtw.nhs.uk