PATIENT waiting times at a hospital's casualty department have been slashed since last year, according to the latest figures.

A survey conducted by South Tees Community Health Council (CHC), on Monday, showed that the longest waiting time at Middlesbrough General Hospital was two hours, four minutes, compared with four hours 33 minutes last year.

Six out of ten patients had less than a 15 minute wait, and where waiting times were longest, the reasons were understandable, such as a delay in admitting the patient to hospital. The survey was conducted at 4.30pm, when the department was likely to be at its busiest.

Peter Johnson, chief officer of the CHC, said: "This is done every year at most of the major hospitals.

"We go in and check the records of all the patients waiting to see when they arrived, what they are waiting for, and how long they have been waiting.

"At Middlesbrough General, we found that the figures were considerably better compared with last year.

"I can only go on the figures, which show it is doing well."

Mr Johnson said the results were unexpected, as more patients were involved in this year's survey.

"There were 15 people waiting as opposed to 11 last year," he said.