Hospital bosses today paid tribute to the efforts of staff who have helped deliver significant improvements in waiting times at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and hit the main targets set out under the national NHS Plan.

• For routine in-patients and day cases the NHS target is that no one should have to wait more than 12 months for admission and this was achieved as a result of the dedicated work of our staff. In January there were 207 patients on the waiting lists and all of them were treated by the end of March
• The NHS target for out-patients is that no one should have to wait more than 21 weeks for a first new appointment and this was achieved as a result of hard work on the part of hospital staff. In January there were 253 patients on the lists and all of them were seen by 31 March
• The other key target on 31 March was to have 90 per cent of patients in A&E waiting less than 4 hours from arrival to admission, discharge or transfer and this target was exceeded through the efforts of A&E staff, in particular.

Trust chief executive Stephen Day said: “These targets were tough and staff at both our hospitals, and the old hospital prior to its closure in January, have performed extremely well to deliver these improved waiting times for the benefit of Norfolk patients. We are aware there are greater challenges ahead as we concentrate on cutting waiting times even further for the coming year.”

Exactly what bearing waiting time performance will have on NHS star ratings this year is still to be clarified. The Department of Health’s star ratings are expected to be based on a wider range of performance measures that are due to be published in July.

The waiting time targets for 2003/2004, with a deadline of March 31 2004, are:

• No routine in-patient or day case waiting more than nine months for admission
• No out-patient waiting more than 17 weeks for a first new appointment
• The A&E target is for 100 per cent of patients to spend less than 4 hours in A&E from arrival to admission, discharge or transfer