A Kent hospital trust has recorded the second worst A&E waiting times in the country, as emergency departments across the UK report the worst performance in a decade.

One in five patients at Medway hospital waited more than four hours to be seen at A&E between October and December, with just 79% being treated in the target time.

The only trust with a worst performance was Cambridge, where only 75.2% of patients were seen within four hours. The Department of Health's target is to see 95% of patients within this time.

Every trust in Kent failed to meet the target 95% but Dartford and Gravesham performed better than the national average.

It was a similar story across England, as figures released today reveal only 92.6% of patients were seen in four hours - the worst performance since the target was introduced at the end of 2004.

In Medway, during the same period, 79% of patients were seen within four hours. This compares to 83.7% in the previous quarter and 86% from April to June.

Over the festive period, people across the county were advised to stay away from emergency health services, as staff struggled to cope with a high number of patients.

A spokesman for NHS Kent and Medway said A&E units, NHS 111, 999 and out of hours services were all experiencing high levels of demand and asked patients who did not need urgent treatment to leave those services free for people who really needed them.

Commenting on the national figures today, Dr Sarah Pinto-Duschinsky, from NHS England, said: “Today’s figures show that in the three months to the end of December more than nine out of 10 A&E patients in England continued to be seen and treated in under four hours – the best measured performance of any major western country.

“In the immediate run up to Christmas the NHS treated 446,500 A&E attendees, up 38,000 on the same week last year. And there were 112,600 emergency admissions – the highest number in a single week since we started publishing performance figures in 2010.

“We faced similar demand over Christmas itself. In the week ending December 28, A&E attendances were up more than 31,000 on the same period last year, meaning we successfully treated more patients in under four hours than ever before.”

Medway’s A&E department is due to get a £13.4 million cash injection from the department of health to make improvements and the hospital opened a dedicated children’s A&E in December.

Last month, Dr Phillip Barnes, acting chief executive, said: “The new funding will support the much needed redevelopment of the emergency department and improve emergency care and experience for our patients.”

The Gillingham hospital was placed in special measures last year, after the Keogh report into high death rates which branded the department “completely inadequate”.

Medway’s A&E was designed to see 50,000 people a year, but patient numbers now stand at 90,000. In the last 12 months, 10 patients have waited more than 24 hours to be treated.

Stories you might have missed

Paramedics called to 'shooting'

Elderly man dies after being hit by lorry

Masked robbers raid newsagent

Brutal attack on church leader