The Trust, which covers a population of more than 600,000, broke into the Top 10 list of more than 122 NHS trusts, for what is believed to be the first time. It means more patients are being treated, more quickly and with better health outcomes.
It marks a remarkable improvement for West Herts, which was in 102nd place just two years ago.
The latest figures from NHS England revealed that 82.6% of the 17,148 patients arriving in A&E were seen within the four-hour target time, well above the national target of 78%. In June 2022, just 60.5% of patients were seen within the same time frame.
The faster waiting times come despite higher demand for the service than ever before. In June 2024, 14,168 patients were seen within four hours, an increase of 4,707 from June 2022. Waiting times also improved over the busy winter months.
Reduced waiting times not only provide greater convenience for patients. Research has found faster assessment and treatment in emergency departments leads to better patient outcomes and reduced mortality rates.
Waiting times in A&E are often the result of a lack of beds in the hospital, meaning the system effectively becomes clogged up as patients have to wait for spaces to become available.
Over the last 18 months, clinical teams have embedded a ‘whole hospital’ approach to improve the flow of patients both in and out of the hospital to tackle the challenge.
The Trust’s award-winning virtual hospital has freed up thousands of beds over that period by caring for some patients from the comfort of their own homes using monitoring technology and specialist support.
Matthew Coats, chief executive of West Herts, said: "I’m very proud of the progress we’ve made together, and the latest figures are testimony to the hard work, passion, skill and teamwork of our colleagues.
"Our focus has been on improving the flow of patients throughout the hospital rather than simply treating one symptom of a much bigger problem.
"By approaching it in a truly holistic way, we’ve freed up more beds, discharged patients faster and used technology to help monitor more people from the comfort of their own homes.
"That means we are now treating more patients arriving in A&E more quickly, more of the time.
"Despite the progress we’ve made, we are in no way complacent and recognise there’s still a huge amount of work to do."