A greater proportion of A&E patients at Ipswich Hospital were treated within the Government’s target of four hours last week, official figures have shown.

Some 91.6% of 1,426 patients who attended the hospital’s emergency department were seen within four hours in the week ending January 11.

But it still means 120 A&E patients had to wait longer than four hours to be seen last week – just over 17 every day.

In the previous week, 90.9% of 1,467 patients were seen within four hours.

However, despite the improvement, Ipswich Hospital’s national ranking out of 140 major hospitals in England fell from 24 to 36 after other hospitals improved at a faster rate. The national average was 89.8% last week, a rise from 86.7% in the previous week.

The last time Ipswich Hospital met the Government standard of seeing at least 95% of A&E patients within four hours was on December 7 last year (95.2%).

Meanwhile, Colchester General Hospital was the worst-performing hospital in England last week for treating patients in accident and emergency departments within four hours.

Only around seven in 10 patients (71.8%) who attended Colchester General Hospital’s A&E unit were seen within four hours in the week ending January 11, according to the research published by NHS England today.

It was the lowest proportion out of all 140 major acute hospitals in the country. The hospital was ranked the third-worst in the previous week.

A total of 1,250 patients visited the hospital’s emergency department last week, meaning 352 were not treated within four hours – just over 50 each day.

However, the latest figures represent an improvement on the previous week – the week ending January 4 – when just 64% of 1,289 patients who attended the hospital’s A&E unit were seen within four hours.

Meanwhile, West Suffolk Hospital’s weekly-ranking improved. It is now 104th after 83.2% of 1,126 A&E patients were seen within four hours last week. In the previous week, 76.9% of 1,167 A&E patients were seen within four hours, placing it 111th.

But the region’s three main hospitals are still falling short of the Government’s current target of treating 95% of A&E patients within four hours.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday said hospitals nationwide are facing “real difficulties” this winter but insisted it was “not good enough” that some were falling far short of the A&E target.