THE NEW boss of Derriford Hospital has promised to continue improving patient care as he flags up improvements in wait times and planned new services and buildings.

Chief Executive Mark Hackett said: “We hope patients are starting to feel the impact of the many improvements we have made, particularly to reduce waiting times, and we would like to thank our staff for their hard work in making these changes. To give Plymouth the high-quality hospital trust that it needs and deserves, there is more to do and we will be working on further improvements in what will be a tough year financially.

“In the last year we have made many improvements, including being in the best 25% of the country for most planned patient care, including outpatients and from being one of the worst performing hospital trusts in the country for four-hour waits, we’re now the most improved.”

The average length of stay for emergency patients has reduced from eight to seven days, meaning patients go home sooner. Some 87 per cent of patients are now waiting less than six weeks for outpatient diagnostic tests.

Derriford has opened a new medical receiving unit, orthopaedic suite and expanded same-day emergency care.

New-build opening plans in the next 12 months include an urgent treatment centre, a community diagnostic centre in Plymouth city centre and starting the £200 million new hospital emergency care building. The Plymouth University Hospitals NHS Trust will also implement an electronic patient records scheme to improve interdepartmental sharing of medical notes.

Mr Hackett added: “It will be a tough year financially as we look to get back into the black. The NHS is making some difficult spending decisions for this financial year. Despite NHS investment being protected by the Government above other public services, local budgets are stretched because of rising need for healthcare and increased costs.”