Jill Brewer 29752-31FORMER NHS manager Jill Brewer has won praise for slashing accident and emergency waiting times at Swindon's Great Western Hospital.

A Department of Health report has paid tribute to the senior A&E official who died two weeks ago shortly before the study was published.

Sir George Alberti, the Government's accident and emergency tsar, said the hospital's top-level performance would serve as a reminder of her positive effect.

He said: "Jill's work will be a lasting legacy for both the patients and staff of Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust."

According to the study, the trust now deals with 98 per cent of urgent cases within four hours.

Findings revealed between April and June 2004, 95.3 per cent of patients were seen and treated, admitted or discharged within four hours of arrival at A&E.

Sir George, who oversaw the probe, said: "Performance has continued to improve, with current average performance sustained at over 98 per cent.

"This is a tremendous improvement for the trust against a background of just over 65 per cent of patients seen within four hours in summer 2003.

"This dramatic turnaround has been achieved by a strong executive leadership, key frontline staff leading various improvements and a structured approach to implementing changes."

He singled out Ms Brewer who had beenthe driving force behind this change programme."

The report praised managers for giving medical staff freedom to make their own decisions and set up the A&E system as they wanted focussed on patients.

It cited changes by staff, including setting up a team to manage discharges and making sure nurse practitioners were on call at peak times.

Phil Sands