Bosses at Yeovil and District Hospital have expressed delight at performance indicators released by the government this week.

NHS hospital trusts around the country have been assessed in 20 areas such on cancelled operations, discharge times, etc.

East Somerset NHS Trust, based at Yeovil and District Hospital, is above the national average in 12 of these areas and just about in line with the national average in the remaining eight.

Statistics are based on information gathered from the year 1999/00 to 2000/01 and shows that the trust has a very good record when it comes to avoid cancelling scheduled operations for non-medical reasons.

Only 0.4 per cent of booked operations were cancelled at the last minute due to non-medical reasons - a figure understood to be 77 per cent better than the national average.

Emergency re-admission rates for patients within 28 days of discharge are also better than the national average - with hospital bosses giving credit to the assessment and transfer team as well as community and social services staff.

On the down side, the percentage of patients (aged 65 and over) discharged to their usual place of residence within 28 days of emergency admission for a fractured hip, had decreased slightly.

East Somerset NHS Trust chief executive James Scott said: "I am absolutely delighted with these indicators and believe they reflect the real improvement in services over the last year.

"Our ambition in this trust is always to be above average and we will continue to seek to improve our services. These encouraging ratings reflect the hard work undertaken by staff within the trust."