Bedford Hospital: When are the busiest times of the week at A&E?

The busiest and quietest times of the week for accident and emergency services at Bedford Hospital over the last year have been revealed.

It comes as A&Es across England are at breaking point, with attendance reaching pre-pandemic levels in November and a record proportion of patients facing waits of more than four hours.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced an additional £3.3 billion in NHS funding to deal with increased demand and soaring inflation, but health think-tank the Nuffield Trust said it is too late "to have a meaningful impact this year".

The breakdown, in the year to March, comes from NHS Digital:

The worst hour of the week to visit A&E is between 3am and 4am on Tuesdays

Patients waited an average of six hours and 24 minutes to be either admitted to an inpatient ward, transferred elsewhere or discharged from hospital

The shortest waits were between 8am and 9am on Tuesdays – when patients waited an average of four hours and four minutes

Monday was the worst day to visit A&E – patients waited an average of five hours and nine minutes

Sunday was the best day to visit A&E – when the average wait time dropped to four hours and 32 minutes

Monday had the highest average number of patients attending

Saturday had the lowest average number of patients attending

The Nuffield Trust said a significant factor is the growing number of patients taking up hospital beds as they wait to be discharged because support from health and care social services outside of hospital is not ready.

Jessica Morris, fellow at the Nuffield Trust, said: "While the Government has now confirmed when the NHS will see some additional funding to tackle these delays, it is too late in the day to have a meaningful impact this year.

"Patients with no choice but to stay in hospital beds when they are medically fit enough to be cared for elsewhere is a serious problem for both the patients and NHS staff across the system."

Health and social care secretary Steve Barclay said he is supporting staff by "investing record amounts into health and social care, including committing an additional £8 billion for health and social care in 2024-25".