BOSSES at the Royal Derby Hospital have been praised for making "significant improvements" to its waiting times – but told there is still concern about its finances.
Last October, national health regulator Monitor issued a warning in public to the city's hospital trust – demanding it took "urgent action" to fix its problems.
The Derby Telegraph has previously reported how the trust was failing to meet some of its targets – including seeing 95% of its A&E patients within four hours.
And hospital chiefs also admitted earlier this year how they were over-spending by £66,000 a day – and needed to make savings of £43 million.
When the trust received the warning, Derby hospitals' chief executive Sue James hit back at Monitor, saying the regulator had "ignored the reality of the situation" the hospital was facing.
She also said she was surprised by the sudden decision to call for action, as the trust had been having regular meetings with Monitor to explain how it planned to get back on track.
Now, Monitor has confirmed it is less concerned about the trust as it has been meeting its A&E targets. But Monitor said the trust still needed to address its financial problems.
And it said it had agreed with the trust it will develop a "comprehensive financial recovery plan" by the end of January next year.
Mrs James said: "We are delighted to have been able to reduce waiting times in our A&E department and this is a process we began as a priority before Monitor's latest intervention.
"Turning this situation around is a real achievement for us and it is testament to the efforts of all our staff, who have worked tirelessly to help us meet the A&E targets over a sustained period of more than a year.
"To put this in context, over the past financial year, only 13 out of 38 trusts in the East Midlands have managed to achieve this national target of seeing and treating more than 95% of patients in A&E in four hours or less."
Adam Cayley, regional director at Monitor said: "More patients are being seen quickly at the city's A&E department, which is really good news. The challenge is now to get on top of the trust's financial deficit, which is worrying.
"We want the trust to develop a financial recovery plan, demonstrating to us how it will solve its financial problems while safeguarding the quality services which local people expect."
