The Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments in Northwick Park and Ealing hospital were ranked as the best forming departments in the country.

The London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust runs the two departments and sees more than two thousand patients a week, with the highest blue light ambulance attendance in the capital.

And now the trust has been rated as the best performing A&E in the country for its four hour waits for adults and children.

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 intensive care beds.

A&E subsequently divided itself into two separate departments on each site: one area treating patients with respiratory conditions, the other treating non-covid conditions.

Nationally A&E departments were under stress during the winter wave from the increased demands caused by the pandemic, but the trust were mainly able to keep up with demands.

Dr Barker continued: “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.”