LEIGH and Wigan's hospitals have exceeded national Government targets for the treatment of heart attack patients.

Data has shown that Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust treated 79 per cent of eligible patients with clot busting thrombolytic drugs within 30 minutes of arrival in hospital in the first quarter of 2002.

This figure exceeds the government's National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease target by four per cent.

Tony Halsall, director of nursing said: "This is a signifiant achievement."