AMBULANCES leave Royal Bolton Hospital 12 to 14 minutes after they arrive on average, as the hospital trust continues to beat national targets.

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust is one of only two in the country to achieve sustained improvement in ambulance turnarounds.

The figures have improved dramatically since last year when it would often take more than 30 minutes for ambulances to be released by the emergency department.

Chief operating officer Andy Ennis told the board of directors that the success is partly down to the multi-million pound transformation of the accident and emergency building.

The £9m investment, which was completed earlier this year, allowed the hospital to create space for an ambulance drop-off point.

Mr Ennis said: “Because we had such a small space, patients arrived on the corridor. Now we can take them into the new space.”

Royal Bolton Hospital has the busiest A&E department in Greater Manchester with the highest number of ambulance attendance.