The organisation which plans, pays for and monitors health services in our region has been rated outstanding by NHS England.

In the national assessments for 2017/18, the East and North Herts Clinical Commissioning Group was one of only 20 CCGs in the country to get the top rating.

The CCG was praised for supporting people with the right care in their own homes and communities, reducing the need for patients to be admitted to hospital.

The CCG’s chairman, Dr Hari Pathmanathan, said: “We are immensely proud of the work we have done to save the lives of more people experiencing a stroke and to provide easier access to mental health support. We’ve also invested in additional GP appointments in the evenings and weekends.”

Beverley Flowers, the CCG’s chief executive, said: “Our focus now is to support our hospitals to improve their urgent and emergency care services, and to work with clinicians to speed up treatment for cancer patients.”