The target comes after new data released on Thursday showed that almost one third of patients had to wait longer than the four hour timeframe to be seen.

The figures came from the Bureau of Health Information, which monitors the performance of public hospitals across the country.

Maitland Hospital general manager Lynne Bickerstaff said the emergency department results were only up 1 per cent from the same period last year.

“Maitland Hospital is working hard to reach the target of having 81 per cent of patients ­treated, admitted, discharged or referred from its emergency department within four hours,” Ms Bickerstaff said.

“For the quarter to June 2015, 68 per cent of patients were treated, admitted, discharged or referred from Maitland Hospital emergency department within four hours. 

“These results were achieved despite an increase in the number of presentations, and are an improvement from the previous quarter.”

More than 11,000 people presented to Maitland’s emergency department from April to June this year and the average waiting time was about three hours. 

“This means most patients are being seen by their doctor and either discharged or admitted to a bed less than four hours from arrival,” Ms Bickerstaff said.

“Maitland Hospital’s efforts to improve the time it takes to transfer patients from the care of an ambulance to the emergency department are seeing encouraging results. 

“This quarter, the median transfer of care time was 10 minutes – well below the state average of 13 minutes and an improvement on the same period last year.”

Ms Bickerstaff said the key performance indicator for elective surgery was the percentage of patients treated within timeframes ­recommended by their clinicians.

More than 99 per cent of all surgeries were considered to have been performed on time at Maitland Hospital. 

This included non-urgent surgery, which was an improvement from the same period last year. 

Ms Bickerstaff also pointed out that Maitland Hospital met the Ministry of Health’s performance targets for all orthopaedic patients for the quarter to June. 

“Demand for orthopaedic services in Hunter New England Health is high,” she said.

“We continue to work hard to ensure more patients receive their surgery within clinically recommended timeframes. 

“This includes working closely with ­surgeons and facilities with capacity and ­shorter waiting times to enable patients to have their surgery sooner.”