Plymouth Third Best in the Country

Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust is celebrating being the third best hospital in the country for the emergency waiting time target this winter.

Hospitals are set a target of seeing and treating 95% of patients in four hours of them arriving for urgent treatment.

In Plymouth, this has been exceeded with 97.6% of patients arriving between 4 November 2013 to 23 March 2014 seen and treated within four hours.

This makes Plymouth third best in the country and is down to the hard work of staff across the hospital, combined with good planning for winter and investment in more staff and beds.

Kevin Baber, Chief Operating Officer for Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “This is great news for patients attending our emergency department and I would like to thank all our staff, in the Emergency Department and right through the hospital, for working so hard to achieve this.

“We did a lot of planning in the lead-up to winter to make sure we were as prepared as we could be, including opening a short stay ward, which provides targeted care for medical patients requiring a stay in hospital of less than 72 hours.

“Our staff have worked hard to embed the “Plan for Every Patient”, a tool used between in-hospital professionals and external agencies to aid communication and ensure we give the right care at the right time to patients.”

The BBC has been tracking the performance of hospitals across the country throughout the winter.