East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust one of the top performing in England for meeting waiting time targets, new figures reveal

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) came 25th out of 135 hospital trusts in England for its performance, meeting 63.9 per cent of its targets in 2016/17 against criteria including four-hour A&E waits, 62-day cancer care and routine operations, according to data from the BBC.

In the last year, it has met its target for 85 per cent of cancer patients to begin treatment within 62 days or urgent GP referral, for every month.

While it has also met its routine operations target to treat 92 per cent of patients within less than 18 weeks, in 11 of the 12 months.

Although, it failed to meet a single one of its targets for 95 per cent of people attending A&E to be treated or admitted in four hours in the past year.

Contrastingly, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, was one of the worst performing in the country, meeting just 8.3 per cent of its waiting time targets, and coming 112th out of 135 trusts.

The trust, which operates Chorley A and E and Royal Preston Hospital, failed to meet any of its targets for A&E times and routine operations, while it met its cancer treatment target for only three months out of 12.

The analysis also shows that both ELHT and Lancashire Teaching Hospital have failed to meet waiting times targets for A&E for the last two years. Nationally, the NHS in England has failed to reach a single one of its waiting time targets for A&E, cancer and planned operations.

Kevin McGee, chief executive for ELHT said times are ‘really busy’ for the NHS and that maintaining performance is a challenge.

“Our performance compares well with other NHS trusts, but we are not complacent and recent changes in the Emergency Department have resulted in an improvement in our performance against the important four hour standard,” he said.

Karen Partington, chief executive of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, said: “This year nearly 90 per cent of people attending the emergency department have been treated, admitted or discharged within four hours.

“More than four fifths of patients have their routine procedures within 18 weeks, and treatment is started for 82 per cent of cancer patients within two months of GP referral.

“As demand is constantly rising, our hospitals are increasingly busy, but we are committed to continuously improving how we work so more patients can get quicker treatment.”