Town leading the way says health boss

HEALTH chiefs in Warrington are celebrating after cutting waiting times for the town’s patients to lower than the national average.
Today the average wait for patients requiring an operation after visiting their GP is less than 12 weeks, where as the national average is 15 weeks.
Even more encouraging are results from diagnostic test, such as MRI scans, take no longer than a fortnight, nationally the wait can be up to a month.
Just a year ago, patients were left with a 12-month wait between seeing their GP and making it on to the operating table.
In addition to this, no patient in Warrington is waiting longer than four weeks for their first outpatient appointment.
The combination of the Warrington PCT, North Cheshire Hospital Trust and staff in hospitals and community services, have helped to turn the figures around.
No Delay programme manager for the PTC, Jim Britt, said: “We are obviously delighted with these latest statistics. Great efforts have been made in Warrington to get to where we are today. Warrington is not only bucking trends locally, we are also bucking national trends.
“This appears to be proof that Warrington really is leading the way with excellent health services for the people of the town and it is our aim for this to continue and hopefully improve further.”
Chief Executive of Warrington PCT, Andrew Burgess, added: “We are delighted with these latest figures which are a tribute to the hard work of all staff involved. Any patient facing a period in hospital now needs to be prepared for these short waiting times.
“It is our aim to provide the very best health services and health care facilities for the people of Warrington and it is also our priority to ensure the people of the town are consulted every step of the way in what we do and have a say in the facilities which we provide.”