Worst December A&E performance in Wales on record

December's A&E performance in Wales is the worst on record.

While the NHS in England saw improvement in December 2018 compared to December 2017, in Wales, performance got worse.

Across the country in December 2018, 77.8% of people spent four hours or less in an A&E department - down from 79% in 2017.

Find out how your hospital coped in December.

While some hospitals did see improvements locally - that hasn't been enough to bring Wales-wide performance up.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Wales said that despite a mild winter so far, the number of patients spending protracted lengths of time in accident and emergency departments is increasing.

Following the publication of the latest NHS statistics, the Welsh Government said: “We have invested an extra £39m ahead of this winter to support health and social care services and have seen improvements in a number of areas."

The statement goes on to list the areas that have seen a positive change, such as fewer ambulance handover delays at hospitals and better waiting times for some services. The statement does not, however, make any reference to the time patients spent in A&E departments.

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has highlighted the need for social care provision to match the demand of patients leaving hospital.

Dr Llewelyn added that while he welcome promises of more investment in social care, he is "concerned that we’re not moving quickly enough. Many of my colleagues feel that we’re already stretched too thinly".