NHS improving but London lags behind
pharmafile | October 17, 2008 | News story | |Â Â NHSÂ
The Healthcare Commission's third yearly snapshot of the NHS in England shows a significant increase in trusts performing well, but found services in London remain a problem.
In its survey of all 391 NHS trusts in England, 42 trusts were rated as double 'excellent' – more than twice as many as last year.
Just six trusts received 'weak' ratings for both quality and finance, down from 20 on the previous Health Check.
These trusts must prepare an action plan by 23 October, detailing steps taken and further plans to address these issues.
The watchdog found that services in parts of the capital were lagging behind those in the rest of the country.
Problem areas in the capital include A&E waiting times, access to GPs, the waiting time from referral to treatment, and screening for breast cancer.
Quality of services declined, with 48% scoring 'excellent' or 'good' compared to 55% last year.
Commission chairman Sir Ian Kennedy warned that the NHS in London "continues to face significant challenges".
The Commission recommended that PCTs should work together to commission services, improve access to GPs and reconfigure hospital services.
For the third year running trusts in the north of England performed best in terms of on both quality of services and use of resources.
Health secretary Alan Johnson said: "The progress being made by the NHS at both ends of the scale means real benefits for patients in the quality of care they receive.
"Sixty per cent of Trusts are now rated as 'excellent' to 'good' – two years ago 60% were 'fair' or 'poor'."
Waiting times for cancer treatment have come down: in 2007/8, 83,000 patients received treatment within two months of referral – 28,000 more than two years ago.
And ambulances responded to 77% of category A calls within eight minutes – above the government's target of 75%.
Sir Ian said patients should celebrate the improvements, but some key problems remain. These include:
* One in three trusts are still not meeting all the core standards
* 114 trusts – a quarter of the NHS – failed to meet one or more of the three core standards relating to infection control (up from 111 trusts last year)
* 52% of acute trusts met targets to cut MRSA infections by at least 60% over three years
* The number of PCTs whose GPs saw patients within two working days fell from 80% last year to 31% this year
From April next year the Care Quality Commission will replace the Healthcare Commission.
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