North hospitals rated best in country

Nov 18 2008 by Chris Robinson, The Journal

TWO health trusts have scooped national awards for their standard of service. The Dr Foster Good Hospital Guide assesses rates of hospital superbug MRSA as well as waiting times and patient satisfaction.

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust was jointly named Dr Foster large trust of the year.

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust was awarded the medium-sized trust of the year, beating its national competitors. The awards recognise the trusts’ excellent contribution to high quality care in the health service set out by Health Minister Lord Darzi in his NHS review earlier this year.

The independent body identifies and analyses performance across the English NHS against selected indicators and was originally published to encourage transparency about healthcare performance.

Each trust is measured in 10 categories, including hospital deaths, the percentage of stroke patients receiving a CT scan within 24 hours and re-admissions.

County Durham and Darlington, which was joint winner with Wirral University Teaching Hospital, was praised for bettering its 18-week waiting time target.

Chief executive Stephen Eames said: “This is an excellent achievement and demonstrates the commitment and dedication of our staff. It also reinforces our reputation for delivering excellent services, as acknowledged earlier this month with the Healthcare Commission annual health check rating.”

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Ian Renwick praised the dedication of its 3,300 staff. “The award also recognises the high level of satisfaction the patients and people of Gateshead have with the hospital services we provide here.

“That matters more than anything to us and gives us confidence that the decisions we make are right for our patients.”

There was also good news for other North health trusts.

South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust was praised for one of the “most important” indicators of patient safety.

The investigating body improved its hospital standardised mortality ratio (HSMR) for the third consecutive year.

Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was also named as one of the trusts nationally with lower-than-expected death rates.

The report also found City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust was one of three trusts with higher than expected rates of hip revision – repetition of hip replacement.