A health trust has once again been recognised for the speed and quality of care it gives patients – with the awarding of national incentive funding.
North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust is regularly among the best trusts when measured against two key national standards.
Over the last year the trust is the fourth best nationally for the ‘four hour standard’ benchmark – which sets a target of a maximum four-hour wait in urgent and emergency care from arrival to being admitted to a hospital ward, transferred or discharged from hospital.
It is also eighth in the country for its performance against the 12-hour standard, a target where no patient should wait longer than 12 hours in emergency care from arrival to being admitted to hospital, transferred somewhere else, or discharge back to their home.
This has led to the trust being awarded £4million by NHS England in its round of capital allocation funding for the best performing health trusts.
Thanks to the work of all staff
Kevin Moore, clinical director for urgent and emergency care, said: “This fantastic news is the result of the work of all of our teams across the organisation.
“From those of our staff in our communities helping keep our patients out of hospital, to the staff on our wards working hard to get patients better and back in their homes, to my own team at the front of house of our hospital sites in urgent and emergency care, we are all playing our part.
“And we also must recognise the role our support staff play in making sure everything runs efficiently behind the scenes.
“It is also, of course, thanks to the work of all of the organisations we work with – including our neighbouring health trusts, the ambulance service, local authorities and voluntary organisations including our very own group of committed volunteers.”
Second year of funding award
This is the second year the trust has been awarded funding – after it secured £5million last year.
This was used to help fund works to redevelop the emergency assessment unit at the University Hospital of North Tees.
The works, due to be completed later this year, will include a larger waiting area, new assessment rooms and toilets and a new patient monitoring system.
Dr Moore added: “This funding has already helped us make direct improvements to the care we give to our patients – and this further funding allocation will only help us make further progress across the organisation.”