NONE of the eight accident and emergency departments in the North-East met the Government target of seeing 95 per cent in four hours, according to the latest statistics from NHS England.

This was in line with A&E departments across England where - on average - 89.8 per cent of patients were seen within four hours in the week ending January 11.

The latest national figures represent an improvement on the previous week, when just 86.7 per cent of those attending A&E units were seen within four hours, but are a further sign of the continuing "unprecedented" pressures facing the NHS this winter.

In the North-East six out of eight A&E departments increased the proportion of patients seen within four hours.

Two of the region’s A&E departments - North Tees and Hartlepool and County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust saw the proportion of patients seen within the target time that week dip slightly.

The trust with the largest number of patients waiting more than four hours in A&E was County Durham and Darlington, where 199 patients exceeded the target figure - although this was down on the previous week’s figure of 223.

The second largest number waiting for more than four hours was at the South Tyneside trust, where 112 patients were waiting longer than the target time.

Sixty patients waited more than four hours at City Hospitals Sunderland and 41 waited over the target limit at South Tees Hospitals.

The best performing trust in the North-East was the Newcastle Hospitals Trust, where 93.7 per cent of 3,398 people who attended A&E during that week were seen within four hours. A total of 50 people waited longer than four hours at the Newcastle trust.

The next best performing trust was South Tees Hospitals where 91.7 per cent were seen within four hours

North Tees and Hartlepool and the Gateshead trusts perfomed equally as well with 91.2 per cent of A&E patients seen within the target time.

The Northumbria Healthcare Trust saw 90.1 per cent within the target time.

At the County Durham and Darlington trust - which saw 5,244 people in A&E - 89.4 per cent of patients were seen within the target time.

The lowest proportion of patients seen within the four hour target time was at South Tyneside where only 81.4 per cent were seen within four hours.

No patients in the North-Wait waited more than 12 hours.