By Peter Carvill A report from the Health Commission has revealed that the quality of NHS hospitals...
By Peter Carvill
A report from the Health Commission has revealed that the quality of NHS hospitals in England has improved dramatically over the past year.
The Commission looked at 394 hospital trusts and rated them on two principal categories: the quality of services provided and the management of financial resources. Each trust was rated as being excellent, good, fair or weak in both areas.
Overall, the results supported the argument that the quality of NHS hospitals has been improving. Some 19 trusts were rated as 'excellent' in both categories this year compared with just two in 2006, while 98% of accident and emergency patients were seen within four hours and the proportion of cancelled operations fell for the third year in a row. The numbers of hospitals rated 'weak' in both categories fell from 24 last year to 20 in the new report.
However, a quarter of hospitals were failing to meet new standards on infection control that were introduced in October 2006 and 70% were failing to meet standards on "convenience and choice" for patients.
The Health Commission defended the assertion that a quarter of hospitals had failed to meet standards of hygiene.
Anna Walker, chief executive for the Health Commission, said: "The bar was raised dramatically on the issue of infection control and that explains why trusts seem to be performing worse than in the past."
Health Secretary Alan Johnson said that he would ask for the hospitals that failed to meet the infection control standards to be inspected again, adding that one course of action for the lowest-performing trusts may be takeovers by their higher-performing counterparts.
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