Hertfordshire NHS trust in the black for first time in six years

External view of the Lister hospital
The Lister Hospital failed to meet the government's A&E waiting target throughout the 2019/20 financial year Credit: ITV Anglia

The trust which runs the Lister Hospital in Stevenage has ended the year with a surplus for the first time since 2014.

Figures presented at the AGM of the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust showed an £800,000 surplus at the end of 2019/20 financial year.

The trust, which also operates the QEII Hospital in Welwyn Garden City, Hertford Hospital and Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Middlesex, has been in the red every year since 2014.

At the end of the previous financial year, in 2019, the hospital had a £13.5m deficit.

The meeting also heard that visits to A&E at the Lister had increased by 15,000 in four years.

There were 156,439 visits to the emergency department in 2019/20, compared to 141,260 in 2015/16.

Further, the hospital failed to meet the government's target of 95% of A&E visitors being seen within four hours. The highest figure the Lister achieved in 2019/20 was 86.1% in August.