West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has risen almost 100 places in two years on the A&E waiting times league table.

The trust, which has hospitals in Watford, Hemel Hempstead and St Albans, was recently ranked seventh out of 122 nationwide for Accident and Emergency waiting times.

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 hard work, passion, skill and teamwork of our colleagues.

"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."

The latest figures from NHS England revealed an 82.6 per cent fulfilment of the four-hour waiting target for the 17,148 patients who arrived at A&E.

This is above the national target of 78 per cent and a considerable improvement compared to the figures from June 2022, which showed only 60.5 per cent of the patients were seen within this same time frame.

These faster waiting times were accomplished despite the highest-ever demand for service.

In June 2024 alone, a total of 14,168 patients were seen within four hours — an increase of 4,707 from June 2022.

According to the trust, the reduction in waiting times not only offers greater convenience for the patients but also contributes to improved patient outcomes and reduced mortality rates.

Part of the success for West Herts, which serves more than 600,000 people, has been adopting a 'whole hospital' approach in the last 18 months to help ease bed unavailability. 

This approach, combined with the trust's virtual hospital, has freed up thousands of beds by monitoring patients at home and providing specialist support.