Waiting times for patients at Dudley’s Russells Hall Hospital A&E department missed Government targets in the first three months of the year – but bosses say they are now back on track.

Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been put on “amber” alert by independent regulator, Monitor.

It follows the the hospital missing the national accident and emergency target to see, treat and discharge or admit 98 per cent of all patients within four hours in the third and fourth quarters of the last financial year.

The Trust recorded a year-end figure of 95.9 per cent. But bosses have revealed that since the beginning of April the target has been met with 98.7 per cent of patients seen within the specified time limit.

Health chiefs have recently recruited seven extra nurses and five new clinical support workers in a bid to slash A&E waiting times. They have invested more than £560,000 to help increase capacity on wards to improve the patient assessment times and free up beds

Chief executive Paul Farenden said the Trust was now “back on track”.