THE London North West University Health Care Trust (LNWH) which runs Ealing Hospital has been rated as the best performing A&E in the country for its four-hour performance target.

The Trust has two A&E departments at its Ealing and Northwick Park sites, which see more than 2,000 patients per week and has the highest blue light ambulance attendance in London.

It was ranked third best in the UK and the best performing in the Capital.

Dr Jon Baker, Divisional Clinical Director for Emergency and Ambulatory Care, said: "It's a fantastic achievement considering what we have been through in the past 12 months."

"It's a genuine team effort from everyone involved in the emergency pathway from the site team to all our allied health care professionals, operational management team and porters and, of course, our acute medical, emergency department and ward teams.

"We just seem to be getting better and better, despite the circumstances."

The department was at the forefront of the pandemic when Northwick Park was the first and hardest hit trust in the country during the first wave and had to call a critical incident when it came close to running out of beds in intensive care.

A&E is now divided into two separate departments on each site: one area responsible for treating patients with respiratory conditions, while the other would deal with non-COVID related conditions.

Dr Baker added: "The advantage of having such a busy A&E is that we were able to adapt and flex to the changing needs of our patients through the pandemic.

"They are a modest bunch, but this is well deserved.

"Our A&E, ward teams and operational management team pulling the strings behind the scenes are a credit to the profession."