Ashford and St Peter's is on the mend after a start to the new year after declaring a major incident and failing to see 27.8 per cent of accident and emergency admissions within four hours.

The trust failed to meet Government targets of seeing 95 per cent of admissions within four hours throughout most of January, but hit the mark in the final week of the month.

In the last week of 2014, ending December 28, the trust A&E departments saw 85.6 per cent of patients within four hours. This dropped to 72.2 per cent in the week ending January 4.

Chief executive Suzanne Rankin said: "I remain incredibly proud of how hard colleagues across our hospitals have worked over the last few weeks, ensuring the very best care possible for patients despite huge pressure on demand.

"Everyone has really pulled together which is demonstrated very clearly in our improved performance. The four hour target is about doing the best for patients - seeing and treating them in a timely way - and staff here and in our partner organisations have worked really hard to improve the experience for our patients.

"I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone involved. That said, maintaining these levels of performance remains challenging as emergency demand for healthcare continues at high levels. We continue to work with our partners in the development of sustainable changes to pathways and services for patients across north-west Surrey."

The trust is also celebrating a team included in a national improvement programme.

Teams for the Scaling Up Improvement programme, tackling acute kidney injury, aims to enhance diagnosis, increase awareness and drive improvements in care, is selected by the Health Foundation.

Doctor David Fluck, medical director, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for the trust to work with leading experts in acute kidney injury to improve outcomes for our patients in Surrey."

The programme will run for two-and-a-half years and will receive up to £500,000.