King’s named in top 20 most improved NHS Trusts for urgent and emergency care

01 July 2025 - Significant improvement in 12-hour performance in 2024/25, compared to 2023/24

King’s has been named in the top 20 most improved NHS Trusts for its 12-hour performance in urgent and emergency care during 2024/25, compared to the previous year, NHS England has confirmed. This is recognition of improvements in waiting times at both King’s College Hospital and Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH).

This achievement is, in part, thanks to teams in the Emergency Departments at both hospitals treating more patients in our Same Day Emergency Care units, as well as teams across both sites helping discharge medically fit patients more quickly.

Dr Emer Sutherland, Clinical Director for Emergency Care at King’s College Hospital, said: “We are delighted to be named in the top 20 most improved Trusts for 12-hour performance in urgent and emergency care.

“This is testament to the hard work of not only the teams within the Emergency Departments but also the site teams, wards, departments and teams across the Trust, as well as our community partners, to discharge patients who are fit to leave hospital and ensure there is the necessary support for them in the community.”

Dr Shayan Shah, Clinical Lead for Emergency Medicine at PRUH, added: “The Ambulatory Decision Unit at PRUH has had an impressive impact in helping to see and treat patients who can potentially be discharged, freeing up capacity for those who really need admission.

“Waiting times for patients are still longer than we would like them to be – we are working hard to address this, and provide consistently good care for those who need us.”

Angela Helleur, Chief Delivery Officer at the Trust, added: “This is a significant achievement for all involved and I would like to thank and congratulate colleagues across both sites for the year-on-year improvement in performance we’ve seen. It’s an excellent step in the right direction.”

The Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) urgent and emergency care (UEC) plan has set out a series of actions that are to be taken to ensure rapid and sustained improvement in this key aspect of patient care, focusing on the changes that will make the biggest difference to patients and NHS staff.