Gloucestershire NHS trust told to improve waiting times

The trust runs hospitals in Gloucester and Cheltenham

An NHS trust which failed to meet A&E waiting times has been told to "take immediate action" by the regulator.

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs hospitals in Cheltenham and Gloucester, has failed to meet A&E targets consistently over the last two and a half years.

Foundation trusts watchdog Monitor said it had decided to intervene to ensure the trust made effective improvements.

A trust spokeswoman said meeting A&E waiting times was "a high priority".

In 2009 the trust was in breach of its authorisation as a foundation trust for "persistent failures in meeting A&E targets".

And, according to the regulator, in the second half of 2011 it showed "a considerable deterioration in its performance".

Merav Dover, from Monitor, said: "Long waits are unacceptable for patients and the trust has failed to rectify this issue.

"Monitor needs to be assured the board is able to identify and address issues at the trust quickly and we are concerned that they have not been able to do this."

Trust chairwoman Professor Clair Chilvers said: "We have stepped up our response to this problem with a detailed action plan and are confident and determined that we will be able to solve it for the benefit of patients."