The Salisbury VA’s patient wait times rank second best in North Carolina and about average nationwide, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The report includes wait time data for every Veterans Affairs healthcare facility and system in the United States. The Salisbury VA System, which includes the W.G. Hefner Salisbury VA Medical Center, Winston-Salem, Charlotte and Hickory, ranked the largest in total appointments completed in North Carolina and in the middle of the pack nationwide for wait time, according to the report.

The report included data from Aug. 2014 to Nov. 2014. The entire Salisbury VA system fell slightly below the Asheville system for average patient wait time in days. Salisbury’s average wait time in days was 3.53. Asheville’s was 3.49.

North Carolina’s other two VA systems — Fayetteville and Durham — fell significantly below Salisbury at 13.54 days and 8.40, respectively.

About 70 VA systems across the U.S. had better average wait times than the Salisbury and about 60 systems — a good number were west of the Mississippi River — had worse wait times than Salisbury.

“We’ve really focused, here in Salisbury, on making sure that we have access,” said Salisbury VA spokesman Bart Major. “Thankfully, here in Salisbury we have fairly good wait times and very good access in our primary care. We know there are some areas where the wait times are a little longer, but that’s where the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act comes in.”

The act referenced by Major allows any veteran who is enrolled in the VA health care system as of August 1, 2014, or who is a newly discharged combat veteran to seek care outside of a VA facility if the veteran is unable to secure an appointment within 30 days. It became law on Aug. 7, 2014.

A large majority of Salisbury’s appointments were completed within 14 days, according to the VA report.

Across all statistics, Salisbury ranked near or slightly above average. The Salisbury VA was also one of the larger systems in terms of overall appointments. In November 2014, the most recent data in the report, the Salisbury VA completed 45,518 appoints. Most of the appointments occurred at the W.G. Hefner Salisbury VA Medical Center. Salisbury’s Charlotte facilities were second in terms of overall traffic.

The Salisbury VA’s wait times, though reviewed recently, could be audited again in 2015 as a part of a nationwide audit of scheduling practices, which were announced in August, 2014.

“VA is committed to instilling integrity into our scheduling practices to deliver the timely care that veterans deserve,” said VA Secretary Robert McDonald in the 2014 announcement. “It is important that our scheduling practices be reviewed by a respected, independent source to help restore trust in our system, and I’m grateful to the Joint Commission for taking on this critical task.”

The Joint Commission, an accreditation agency for thousands of hospital systems across the nation, will conduct the audit of wait times. Major said the Salisbury VA isn’t aware of an exact time when the audit would be conducted. He said the audit wouldn’t be announced ahead of time.

Contact reporter Josh Bergeron at 704-797-4246