Top performing children's hospital gets £4m bonus
GoogleA children's hospital has been given a £4m bonus after being recognised as one of the top performing NHS trusts in England for seeing A&E patients within four hours.
Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust in Liverpool came second in national rankings, with 89.3% of patients seen within the target, and it had the second lowest number of patients waiting more than 12 hours.
Meanwhile, NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board and NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board have been handed £5m for having the best ambulance response times in 2024-25.
The cash is handed out by NHS England from a £150m pot to the best performing and most improved hospital trusts in 2024-25.
The urgent and emergency care capital incentive scheme awards trusts who see and discharge most A&E patients within the NHS target of four hours.
It also recognises those who have cut the number of 12-hour waits in emergency departments and improved ambulance response time.
'More to do'
Alder Hey in Liverpool was also in the top five trusts with the highest four-hour performance when comparing March 2024 to March 2025.
NHS Greater Manchester had an ambulance response time of 23 minutes 57 seconds to category 2 callouts, which include patients suffering burns, epilepsy and strokes or chest pain.
In NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria, that response time was 26 minutes 20 seconds.
Elsewhere in the north west of England, East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust and Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Trust all received £2m.
The cash was for improving on their 12-hour wait times in March 2024 until March 2025.
Five other NHS organisations in the region have all received £1m for improving A&E waiting times.
They include trusts in Bolton, Tameside and Glossop, and Stockport, alongside the Countess of Chester Hospital, and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.
Dr Michael Gregory, regional medical director for NHS England, said staff had worked "incredibly hard to deliver high quality urgent and emergency services".
He said that was reflected in the achievement of being named as some of England's best performing trusts.
"We recognise there is more to do and we are committed to working with NHS organisations in the North-West to continue this journey of improvement", he added.
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