BOSSES at the Royal Bolton are still on a high after a week-long experiment to ‘reboot the system’ proved to be a huge success.

The Perfect Week initiative, which took place at the hospital earlier this month after three months of planning, saw staff work to discharge healthy patients more quickly to reduce delays.

It was the first time the Royal Bolton had ever taken part in the initiative – with the scheme first launched in 2006 – but it was so successful there are plans to repeat the exercise in October.

David Wakefield, chairman of Bolton NHS Foundation Trust’s board, gave formal recognition to everyone involved in the perfect week during a and said A&E performance had been “stunning”.

During a board meeting on May 28 he said: “The results are absolutely astonishing. On the bank holiday Monday, A&E performance was at 100%.

“The perfect week is a great success story and we have to keep that momentum going.”

During the week the hospital’s rate of meeting the four hour waiting time target for A&E was consistently above 98 per cent, compared to an average of 91.9 per cent in April

In April the hospital averaged 25 A&E breaches a day but during the perfect week there were just 23 in total – an average of less than four a day.

Andy Ennis, the hospital’s chief operating officer, was praised by the board for his role in organising the initiative.

Jackie Bene, the hospital’s chief executive, agreed that the week had been a “great success” and added: “It created the environment for people to stop doing what they normally do, free their minds and get fresh insight.”

A&E performance at the trust currently averages at 96 per cent for the month and 93.6 per cent for the quarter against the Government target of 95 per cent.