ROYAL Bolton Hospital’s struggling A&E is still in need of critical care, its manager has warned.

Andy Ennis, the chief operating officer at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said while the situation is gradually improving — problems at the hospital persist, meaning patients are waiting longer than they should for treatment.

The news follows a difficult few weeks for the trust, after it declared a ‘major incident’ when the number of patients who needed to be admitted to hospital in January rocketed.

The length of waiting times soared as a result, and the Royal Bolton had to draft in extra social workers and agency staff to prevent ‘bed blocking’.

At the board meeting of the trust on Thursday, Mr Ennis said the situation in Bolton was not improving as well as surrounding hospitals.

He said: “It is not where we expected it to be — we are improving but it is slow.

“Wigan and Salford, in comparison, and now delivering on a daily basis. I have spoken to our neighbours and they are not doing anything differently.

“It is starting to improve here but it is inconsistent — we had a better week last week but then had 76 breaches on Tuesday.”

The Royal Bolton was in among the top in the country for meeting its A&E targets this time last year, but gradually deteriorated through last year.

After a torrid January, the trust is now in the bottom third nationally for hitting its targets.

Hospitals are expected to make sure 95 per cent of patients are seen within four hours at A&E, but the average for February is expected to be between 87. 5 and 89 per cent.

It is the equivalent to around 1,000 ‘breaches’ — patients not being seen within the target time —this month, but less than 1,300 recorded in January.

Mr Ennis told board members that he wants the attainment of waiting targets to be above 93 per cent in March, before they hit 95 per cent again.

Addressing patient ‘flow’ — by quickly getting patients who need to be admitted into beds on hospital wards, and discharging patients ready to go home quickly — is key, he added, if they are to break the ‘negative cycle’.

An additional problem is getting the right staff to head up the department.

“We have advertised twice for a manager for A&E and no-one has applied. There are real challenges in getting people to do the job”, he added.

“The people who are applying, we don’t want to employ,”