WAITING times for accident and emergency patients at Swindon's Great Western Hospital have been improved dramatically, according to a new report.

Figures released by the National Audit Office show that 95.3 per cent of patients spent less than four hours in A & E from April to June this year despite an increase in the number of patients.

This is compared to figures for the same period last year revealing that the hospital could only deal with 80.4 per cent of its patients in under four hours.

From April to June last year, GWH dealt with 14,837 A & E patients, compared to 15,997 for the same period this year and the figures were officially welcomed by senior health officials at the Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust, which runs the hospital.

According to Teri Stevans, a spokeswoman for the trust, the figures for the period from July to the end of September this year are even better with 96.2 per cent of patients spending less than four hours in A & E.

She said: "This is a testament to not only the accident and emergency staff but also to all the other departments that they work closely with.

"Reducing the waiting times has definitely been a priority for us and we will endeavour to make sure that the waiting times stay that way, so we will not be complacent.

"At the moment we are recruiting more staff to the A & E department so we can ensure that as we deal with the increasing number of patients we stay on top of it."

Earlier this year, the trust maintained its two star status in the national performance ratings awarded by the Healthcare Commission.

This status means that the hospital has been performing well overall but has not achieved consistently high standards.

Reducing waiting times for emergency admissions was one of the categories that it was told it could improve upon.

Susan Pye, the chairman of the Great Western Hospital Patients and Public Involvement Forum, an independent body that serves as a watchdog for hospital patients, has been closely monitoring the waiting time situation.

She said: "Obviously, we welcome the news. It has been one of our major concerns.

"A group of our members are going to visit the department quite soon so we will be able to see exactly how it is being run.

"We will continue to monitor the improvements to make sure they are sustained."

Newsdesk