Accident and emergency waiting times are well below target for this year in two hospitals, according to performance figures.

King George Hospital A&E in Barley Lane, Ilford, and Queen’s Hospital in Romford showed a large fall in performance with only 82 per cent of patients being seen, treated and leaving within four hours - a 10 per cent drop from this time last year.

Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust (BHRUT) published the figures and was the only London hospital trust to miss its government target for waiting times every month since November last year.

MP for Ilford South Mike Gapes said he was concerned that with the planned closure of King George A&E in 2015, the figures are going to get worse.

He said: “This performance simply shows why it will be impossible to safely close King George A&E in 2015 as is currently planned.”

Health bosses are planning to close the department to move resources to Queen’s Hospital, despite performance at King George being marginally better.

Cllr Wes Streeting said: “Without further action these trends indicate that by January 2014 almost a third of patients will be left waiting in A&E for more than four hours.

“This is unacceptable. We understand that BHRUT think that 100 extra beds are needed to meet the seasonal pressures. Given very few of these beds have been identified I'm very concerned about patient care.

“The government needs to take urgent action to avert a crisis this winter."

But BHRUT maintain they have received praise for their levels of care despite some long waits in the departments. 

Chief executive of BHRUT, Averil Dongworth, said: “We have been very open about the challenges we face to meet the A&E target.

“We have recently been praised for the care we provide to patients while they are in our A&E departments, but some people are still facing unacceptably long waits.

“We are working closely with our health and social care partners to bring about improvements.

“Recent initiatives such as the introduction of seven-day working and opening additional beds to help to cope with winter pressures have seen our performance vastly improve – reaching 95.7 per cent last week – and we are working hard to sustain this.

“In the meantime, we are continuing to do all we can to ensure that patients can access emergency and urgent care in the most appropriate settings.”