The Wilkes-Barre Veterans Affairs Medical Center is one of the best veterans hospitals in the nation when it comes to seeing patients in a timely manner, according to data recently compiled by the Associated Press.

Just one out of every 300 veterans seeking an appointment at the Plains Township hospital had to wait more than 31 days to get care, an analysis of six months of data shows.The 0.34 percent figure ranks the local facility second best out of 150 Veterans Affairs hospitals across the country when it comes to getting veterans an appointment within a month.The state average is 1.84 percent and the national average is 2.78 percent. Those figures reflect averages for VA hospitals as well as hundreds of outpatient clinics, which tend to serve fewer veterans.During the AP's recent analysis, there were 98,976 requests for appointments at the local VA hospital and only 337 veterans had to wait more than 31 days.The news comes as no surprise to World War II veteran Frank Steinberg, 90, of Kingston, who had an appointment Wednesday."I was there today. I had my appointment and they gave me another appointment," said Steinberg, who was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge."From what I understand, some of the fellows I talk to don't have problems getting appointments. It's very timely. There is no long waits for anybody. Sometimes people with a problem are told to report immediately to the emergency room."The good marks for efficiency for the local VA are a result of hospital leadership's insistence on patient service, said William Klaips, a public affairs officer for the Wilkes-Barre VA hospital."We think our numbers are pretty good, but we're not resting on our laurels. We're doing pretty good, but we could do better," Klaips said. "We wish it was zero (percent) and we could provide same-day service to everyone."In addition to 150 hospitals, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs also runs or contracts hundreds of outpatient clinics, 790 of which were included in the AP project. The local VA's wait times were also compared to those facilities. The Plains Township hospital ranks 163rd best out of the total 940 facilities, some of which only had hundreds of requests for appointments during the survey period as compared to tens of thousands for the local hospital.The Wilkes-Barre hospital serves veterans from 18 counties in Pennsylvania, including Luzerne, Lackawanna, Carbon, Columbia, Monroe, Pike and Wayne. It also manages five of those satellite clinics and contracts out services for two others.While the main hospital received good marks for efficiency, one center it operates performed the worst in the state, according to the AP's data. The Northampton County VA outpatient clinic in Bangor had the largest percentage of patients 5.52 percent waiting more than 31 days, amounting to one out of every 18 people seeking care.In Pennsylvania, about one in 54 patients or 1.85 percent waits more than 31 days for care in a VA facility. Around the nation, about one in 36 or 2.78 percent waits at least that amount of time.Klaips said the numbers are skewed because one of the Northampton County clinic's two doctors left during the time the AP was analyzing the data."We lost a doctor, so it took us a while to recruit," Klaips said. "We currently have two doctors at the clinic."The AP analyzed data between Sept. 1, 2014 and Feb. 28 of this year.The other clinics operated by the Wilkes-Barre facility are Allentown (2.43 percent); Sayre (0.35 percent); Tobyhanna (0 percent); and Williamsport (0.81 percent). All of those clinics are staffed by VA workers.The Wilkes-Barre hospital also oversees clinics in Berwick and Honesdale, where it contracts out services. At the Berwick facility, only six out of 2,186 veterans had to wait more than 31 days for care, or a rate of 0.27 percent. Numbers for the Honesdale clinic were unavailable because it is relatively new, Klaips said.The Wilkes-Barre VA is one of the busiest in the state. Only hospitals in Lebanon, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh had more patients requesting care during the time of the AP study.During the time of the study, the Wilkes-Barre VA processed 98,976 appointments, making it the nation's 101st busiest facility out of the 940 surveyed by the AP.The VA hospital in Lebanon had similar appointment numbers to Wilkes-Barre's facility, having processed 101,196 appointments during the six months of data that was reviewed. The percent not cared for within 31 days at the Lebanon facility was 1.94 percent."For Wilkes-Barre, we're doing pretty good," Klaips said. "It's a busy place."