A MERSEYSIDE hospital is the worst in the country for treating accident and emergency patients with just minutes to spare from a government deadline.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show almost 27% of patients at St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals Trust were only seen in the final 20 minutes of the four-hour target.

And almost 17% of those were in the final 10 minutes.

The Liberal Democrats, who obtained the data, said it reveals a disproportionately large amount of patients being dealt with just before the trusts faced financial penalties.

The St Helens and Knowsley Trust, however, refuted the findings.

A spokeswoman said: “The introduction of the four-hour A&E target has significantly reduced the amount of time people wait for emergency treatment across the NHS.

“At this Trust, we have effective pathways in place to ensure that patients receive high-quality treatment and care, and are appropriately transferred to a ward or discharged within four hours.

“The Trust has been independently rated as excellent for the quality of care provided, and performs significantly better than others in terms of patient survival and recovery.”

The figures are revealed in the week Wirral’s Arrowe Park Hospital launched a major probe into allegations of “irregularities” in its waiting time figures.

Departmental manager, Maria Jeffery, has been suspended without prejudice for the duration of the ongoing investigation.