HEALTH chiefs in Chorley are celebrating after the town's hospital was ranked among the most efficient in the country.

Chorley was well placed in the latest national performance tables despite having to cope with the busiest winter in the history of the NHS.

More than double the anticipated number of medical and surgical patients were admitted to the hospital.

Chorley and South Ribble NHS Trust's performance was a significant improvement on last year.

It gained 31 five star ratings compared to 12 the previous year.

The trust managed to ensure that 100 per cent of all its patients were admitted to surgery within 12 months of going on the waiting list.

All patients attending the accident and emergency department received an assessment within five minutes.

Patients, too, are acting responsibly with Chorley in the top third in the country for people who did not attend their outpatient appointment - a new target introduced this year.

In more than half of the categories the hospital achieved the highest performance in the country.

Chief executive Jeff Moore said: "While we are generally pleased with our performance we are not satisfied with our waiting times for the first non-urgent outpatient appointment particularly in relation to patients seen within 13 weeks.

"Outpatient referrals from our GPs have significantly increased during the past 12 months. For example, paediatric referrals are up by 31 per cent, general medicine 24 per cent and mental health 17 per cent.

"We must nevertheless reduce the period of waiting for a first appointment. The trust is currently discussing with our main purchasers South Lancashire Health the need to increase investment in this area."

He said he was delighted with the results and that the staff could take pride in their achievement.

He warned though that the trust faced a difficult task in keeping up to and improving upon the standards it had set.

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