The Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital (NSECH) has the lowest waiting times of any emergency department in the country.
The Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust has consistently - according to NHS England data - been among the best performing trusts when it comes to urgent and emergency care for a number of months. And in December and January, set against huge pressures on the NHS, it was clearly the best performer.
Of hospitals catering to children and adults, its A&E and urgent care units saw a smaller percentage of people waiting more than four hours to be seen than anywhere else. A&E in Cramlington saw 8,476 people arrive in January - and of those 86.9% were seen in less than four hours. And there was not a single "trolley-waits" - where patients are stuck waiting to be admitted to hospital - of more than four hours.
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That's the best in the country - with only the Sheffield Children's NHS Trust seeing a greater proportion of A&E patients within the target time. However, when accounting for the people seen at Northumbria Healthcare's urgent treatment centres, no NHS trust with an A&E performs better. Overall - 93.5% of 17,921 people to turn up in January were seen in less than four hours.
In December, widely-seen as one of the worst months on record for the NHS, Northumbria was even more clearly out in front.
The trust explained that there were a number of reasons for its strong performance, but also that it is important to note that comparisons around the country can be difficult - as each area is different. That said it pointed to its discharge teams as a way in which it was able to ensure there were as many free hospital beds as possible.
The trust has a discharge lounge at NSECH which helps look after patients and frees up emergency beds, and there are also multidisciplinary team which assesses a patient in their own environment - and which includes social care workers, occupational therapists and community nurses. This means medically-fit patients are able to go home sooner.
The trust is also looking to develop its "intermediary care offer" in conjunction with the social care sector. Another As part of our continual effort and focus to provide alternatives to A&E, we are looking to develop our intermediate care offer where we are working in conjunction with the social care sector.
Leaders at Northumbria also cited how the model of having a specialist emergency hospital and a "segregation" of elective and emergency care also helped keep waiting times down - and meant that the trust was able to ensure that there was the right staff in the right places.
There is also a focus on "same day emergency care" and where possible initiatives which help care for cardiology patients before they have to come into hospital. Trust bosses also said they were "proud of our focus on strong leadership, culture, and staff development".
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