Hospitals good – but still not excellent

THE quality of care at Warrington and Halton hospitals has been rated as “good” for the third year running in the latest hospital ratings by the Care Quality Commission.
Standard of care was rated at 100 per cent – and the hospitals were also awarded 100 per cent ratings for dignity and respect and keeping the public healthy.
But for “waiting to be seen” the rating fell to 92 per cent, for safety and cleanliness it was 93 per cent and for good management, 95 per cent.
This meant the hospitals fell short of the “excellent” rating given to some hospitals.
However, the Trust did received an excellent rating for their quality of financial management which is a significant improvement on last year’s Care Quality Commission rating of fair. The score is based on how well the organisation manages its finances.
The health check ratings are published annually by the Care Quality Commission which is the watchdog of standards in hospitals across the country. It gives a guide to the quality of services by measuring the Trust’s performance against a range of key targets such as waiting times, quality of clinical services and safety.
Catherine Beardshaw, chief executive at Warrington and Halton, said: “The quality rating is what matters most to patients.
“Patients want to know that they will receive safe high quality care when they come to our hospital.
“We are very pleased with our excellent rating in financial management particularly when you reflect on our past history of weak financial performance.
“A big thank you to all of our staff who have worked so hard during the last year to deliver these results. The ratings are very good news for staff and patients and a further sign to local people that their hospitals are providing the high quality and safe services that communities expect.”
The 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Trust – which provides mental health care services in the Warrington area, was rated as excellent for the quality of its services and good for the use of its resources.
This is the second year running that the Trust has maintained the excellent quality of its services and has demonstrated significant improvements in the quality of financial management, improving from a rating of fair for 2007/08 to good this year.
The ratings put the Trust in the top 30 per cent of mental health trusts nationally for the quality of services it delivers.
Chief executive Simon Barber said: “We are delighted to have maintained our score of excellent for the quality of our services, and we are very pleased to have made improvements to the quality of financial management this year too.
“This is testament to the hard work and dedication of our staff, who are continuing to not only provide high-quality care for our service users, but to build on this and improve our services. The involvement of our service users and carers in the work we do means that we will continue to raise the standards of the care we provide.”
NHS Warrington – the Primary Care Trust – was scored either “good” or “excellent” on five areas of assessment.
Compared to last year, the PCT also showed an improvement in the organisation’s quality of services, core standards, existing commitments and the quality of its financial management.
Chief executive Andrew Burgess said: “The results are definitely good news for the organisation and a reflection of the dedication and commitment of all our staff.
“This year’s rating is an improvement on last year’s result, with the PCT being rated ‘good’ for both quality of services and financial management.
The full results for hospitals and Trusts across the NHS can be seen at www.cqc.org.uk