HEALTH and care leaders in the county have hailed significant improvements in service performance this winter.

In the seven months from June 2017, performance against the national maximum 4 hour waiting time standard in Gloucestershire emergency departments was one of the strongest in the region.

Performance over the four winter months to the end of February 2018 stood at 91.1 percent compared to 78.2 percent for the same period last year.

In January, the trust was ranked 15th out of 137 nationally for its performance in this area.

There was a substantial reduction in delays for patients fit to leave hospital, a 78 percent reduction in ambulances waiting over 30 minutes to transfer patients into hospital and considerably fewer cancelled operations.

Dr Andy Seymour, clinical chairman at NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group and chairman of the A&E delivery board, said: “In the face of significant pressure during the difficult winter months, health and social care staff have worked tirelessly together to deliver safe and effective care to local people.

"Put simply this is about making sure the experience of patients is the best it can be and ensuring people get the right care, in the right place at the right time.”

The improvement is down to a number of factors, including GP surgeries offering a greater number of ‘on-the-day’ appointments, the ambulance service providing clinical advice and treating patients at the scene and community staff seeing more patients at home or close to home.

New hospital based assessment services have significantly reducing delays in the Emergency Department and there are more GPs working in the emergency department.

An additional 1,500 GP appointments were available each week during the winter period and there were more monthly patient contacts than ever before.