Life at QA one year on, by its chief executive

Nor was he fazed by the challenge ahead of him to make the hospital somewhere patients receive safe care while also improving its heavily-criticised emergency department and boosting staff morale.

A year on, Mr Cubbon is pleased with the progress made but said he plans to do much more to build on his first year.

'˜I have enjoyed my first year getting to know more about the community we serve, the organisation and meeting all the fantastic staff,' he said.

'˜I am starting to get a much better sense of the pride the city has for the hospital and its staff and the wealth of support there is.

'˜Our staff are also really proud of the community they serve.'

When Mr Cubbon took over as chief executive last July, he had four key objectives he wanted to work on including the hospital's finances, governance, urgent care and leadership.

He said improvements have been made in all of those areas.

'˜In terms of leadership, we almost have an entirely new board and I am pleased with the team I have created,' he adds.

'˜Getting the leadership right was really important.

'˜Making improvements in governance was key for me too and hopefully the latest Care Quality Commission reports will reflect that.

'˜This year we have started to see improvements in urgent care and July was the fourth month where we have seen an increased figure in the A&E four-hour target.

'˜Finally, our finances are starting to stabilise and we have a very clear plan to keep improving.'

Mr Cubbon said he set high expectations for himself and he will not get carried away will the success he has seen so far.