HEALTH Minister Rosie Winterton is due to officially open the new £7.5million emergency department at the Royal United Hospital, Bath, today.

The state of the art unit opened in June 2003 and has expanded treatment areas for both minor and major emergency patients, a new reception and waiting area and improved facilities for treating children.

The hospital says that, thanks to the efforts of the staff and the local health care community, the RUH has moved from being one of the worst performing hospitals for accident and emergency waiting times to one of the best in the country. It says this has been achieved despite rises in both accident and emergency attendances and emergency admissions.

Last month the Minister praised the hard work of staff across the health community and said that between April and June this year the RUH had consistently seen more than 95 per cent of patients in and out of its emergency department within the four hour target.

As a result the RUH and primary care trusts have been rewarded with £100,000 to spend on further improvements to services and facilities.

Ms Winterton is due to unveil a plaque to mark the official opening of the emergency department.

She is scheduled to be accompanied by Professor Sir George Alberti, the national director for emergency access, and as well as touring the emergency department and the hospital's new medical assessment unit, she is expected to hold discussion seminars with representatives of the RUH, primary care trusts and the ambulance services in delivering emergency care in the area.

Ms Winterton said of the RUH's success: "This is just one example of how the NHS is getting better thanks to Government investment and staff working hard and working in new ways. Faster, more convenient access to patient-centred emergency care cannot be delivered and sustained without cooperation across the whole system of emergency care."