Taking the temperature of local health services

Last updated 16 Oct 2008 11:04 0 Comments

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HEALTH standards are improving but could still be better, according to the annual watchdogs report out today (Thursday).

The Healthcare Commission says general care, mental health, hospital treatment and ambulance services are all on the up. But the Berkshire West Primary Care Trust - the body responsible for overall health care in the area - is still only providing an "adequate" service. All 319 healthcare trusts in the country are assessed as "excellent", "good", "fair" or "weak" for their quality of services and use of resources, based on self-assessments, inspections and patient surveys.

- Berkshire West Primary Care Trust

Last year the Trust was judged "weak" - the lowest rating - for use of resources and "fair" for its quality of care. This year both are "fair", which translates as adequate.

The Trust fully met the Government's core standards, including safety, patient focus and clinical and cost effectiveness, as well as existing national standards. But it gets a "weak" rating - the lowest - for meeting new national standards. The PCT failed to ensure nobody had to wait more than 18 weeks for hospital treatment after seeing their GP.

The PCT performed well on many assesments, including meeting all 12 for safety and cleanliness, and six out of seven for standards of care. But not enough people can make a doctor's appointment within 24 hours, and insufficient serious but non-life threatening - ambulance calls got a response within 19 minutes.

Older people's mental health needs are inadequately met and not enough is planned to provide sexual healthcare, or screening young people for chlamydia. The Trust also did not meet its four-week target for helping people quite smoking.

Chief executive Charles Waddicor said: "It is encouraging for patients and staff alike to see these improvements. As the local leader of the NHS, it is our job to identify what patients want and need and then to devise the best ways to deliver this for patients.

"This year's result reflects our sound financial footing. Last year we achieved a small surplus which will be carried into next year's budget and allow us to deal better with unexpected contingencies.

"Of course we recognise there are still a number of areas in which we need to improve our performance. We are working on a number of projects which we hope will improve and widen the range of services for patients, such as more capacity and better services for older mental health patients and continuing our improvement of drug misuse treatment services."

- Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

The Trust was again judged "excellent" for use of resources and improved its quality of service from "fair" to "good."

It fully met the core and existing national marks and is "good" at achieving the new national targets.

It performed well on providing key services for patients, but the proportion waiting past 18 weeks from GP referral to hospital treatment was too high. Its infection control was criticised in a May report, but it has been working to address the concerns.

Chief executive, Professor Ann Sheen said: "I am delighted with the result, particularly because we are so close to a double excellent rating which is our goal for next year. I would like to pay tribute to our staff who have worked tirelessly to provide the best possible service for our patients.

"What really matters to us is putting quality first and the Commission's report clearly shows that our local community have good reason to be proud of their acute hospital services."

- Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

The Trust, which provides mental health care, and runs Reading's Prospect Park Hospital, retained its "excellent" status for quality of care. It also achieved "excellent" for resources management, up from "good".

It was judged "excellent" on new national targets, but underachieves on the number of people it is supporting to live in their own homes.

Patient comments were generally favourable compared to the rest of the country, but many felt information for families and support for patients living in the community was inadequate.

Chief executive Philippa Slinger said the trust has already started providing more information leaflets and said: "We are absolutely delighted. We know that we are only one of 12 mental health trusts to receive a double excellent award out of 65 in the country. We are delighted and grateful to all our staff."

- South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust

The service was "fair" last year but its quality of service is now "good".

It "nearly met" existing national targets - by failing to respond to 95% of category B (serious but not life threatening) emergency calls within 19 minutes -

but is "excellent" in meeting new national marks.

It was marked down for not carrying out enough checks to ensure staff were registered with professional organisations.

Spokeswoman Ngozi Fakeye said: "We are very happy with the report's findings, it has been a very good year for us, a lot better than last year. We have made massive improvements in the last year with the service we provide and we will continue to improve over the coming years."

This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 16 Oct 08

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