ALMOST one in five A&E patients at the Countess of Chester failed to be seen within four hours over the past year.

At a meeting on Tuesday, the Countess of Chester NHS Trust’s board of directors heard that 82.9 per cent of patients who attended A&E in 2017-18 were seen with the target four-hour period.

That figure falls below the national target of 95 per cent, and Lorraine Burnett, chief operating officer at the trust, admitted the Countess is having to struggle with the resources it has.

She said: “Operationally we’ve been trying to manage our financial position against increasing demand, and to maintain the quality of care for our patients.

“But we recognise that that has had a detrimental impact on the achievements of some of our constitutional standards.”

The hospital received 192 complaints over the course of the year, but this was far better than 420 complaints which bosses had set as the target for 2017-18.

Alison Kelly, director of nursing and quality, praised the work of staff at the Countess for making sure patients had a better experience at the hospital.

“Despite all our challenges operationally our patients are still providing really positive feedback about their experience here at the Countess,” she said.

“We are trying our upmost to make sure we do give our patients a really positive experience while they are with us.”

Sir Duncan Nichol, chairman of the trust, requested quarterly performance updates in future meetings.