A troubled trust has defended rising waiting times at its accident and emergency departments, insisting it is due to increased demand.

A&E waiting times at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Trust (BHRUT), which runs hospitals serving Redbridge, are the worst in London and rising.

It took four or more hours for 16.3 per cent of patients to be seen at Queen’s Hospital in Romford and King George Hospital in Goodmayes.

This figure, for the week ending September 28, is more than triple the government target of five per cent. It had risen substantially from 10.2 per cent the week before.

BHRUT has defended the figures, saying it was down to demand growing in September.

Last month, five per cent more people attended the A&E at Queen’s than in the same month last year, and there were 13 per cent more attending King George.

This amounts to an overall rise of 1,200 patients.

BHRUT is in special measures, with a debt of around £40million, while King George A&E is earmarked for closure.

BHRUT deputy chief executive, Steve Russell, said: “Demand on our emergency departments is growing and, along with the rest of the NHS, this has impacted on our performance.

“We already have two of the busiest emergency departments in the country, with 244,740 attendances last year.

"In addition to these figures, there was also a nine per cent rise at Queen’s Hospital in the number of people who needed an emergency admission to a bed – up more than 200 on the same month last year.

“That means that, not only are we seeing far more people at A&E, but more of them are seriously ill.

“With such an increase in demand at emergency departments nationally, many patients could be seen more quickly and appropriately in other settings such as at walk-in centres, by their GP or a pharmacist.

“Ensuring our patients are treated quickly and safely is extremely important to us, and as part of our improvement plan we are putting in place a number of measures to improve the service we provide."