A special programme of work that involved a large chunk of hospital services began late last year and was now seeing results, said Dr Snee.
The hospital was able to flex better under pressure and patient flow was managed much more carefully.
"This is only the second time we have achieved this target and I'm very pleased with the work and focus from everyone involved as we work to constantly improve patient care," said Dr Snee.
The target was achieved when the DHB had 10,697 presentations to the emergency department, which was 370 more than the same quarter last year.
Dr Snee said he was pleased the DHB had met five of the six targets.
"No other health system nationally had done better. The district health board is delivering on its commitment to the community, while at the same time it has also delivered a financial surplus for the past four consecutive years and is on track to deliver another this financial year."
He said this meant it had money to invest in staff, facilities and services. Finances would always be tight but it was in a better position than many other DHBs.
Dr Snee said the Bay DHB's failure to meet the new cancer treatment target was largely a data collection issue.
"We are working on getting that right and improving systems to help us meet this target," he said.
All the country's district health boards had still to meet the target for faster cancer treatment.
The target is - by July 2016 - that 85 per cent of patients will receive their first cancer treatment or management within 62 days of being referred.
Nationwide, DHBs met those time frames for 67 per cent of patients in the January to March quarter. During the previous quarter it met the time frames for 66 per cent of patients. The target would increase to 90 per cent by June 2017.
-NZME.
