ALL the health bodies covering Warrington have improved in their annual ratings, released last week.

The ratings are released annually by the Care Quality Commission, formerly the HealthCare Commission, and award a ‘weak, ‘fair’, ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ mark for quality of care and financial management. You can see the full reports at cqc.org.uk.

Mental health care's excellence gets top marks

THE mental health care provider in Warrington received a glowing report from the Care Quality Commission. 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Trust was marked as ‘excellent’ in its quality of service for the second year running and ‘good’ for financial management after three years of being ‘fair’. It was declared compliant with all its 44 core standards and achieved 11 of 13 national priority indicators. The experience of patients was deemed satisfactory, but the trust underachieved when it came to delays in transfer of care. The ratings put the trust in the top 30 per cent of mental health trusts nationally and made it one of only two in the north west to be declared ‘excellent’. Simon Barber, chief executive, said: “This is testament to the hard work and dedication of our staff, who are continuing to provide high-quality care and improve our services.”

Ratings are steady improvement for NHS Warrington

THE ratings for NHS Warrington show a steady improvement from last year when both quality and finance were rated ‘fair’. Now they are both ‘good’, although the new category of Quality of Commissioning is not directly comparable to last year’s Quality of Service. This year NHS Warrington failed to meet seven of its 44 targets – safeguarding children, clinical audit and review, discrimination, records management, employment checks, safe and secure environment and emergency readinessness.

Mixed reviews for ambulance service

THE North West Ambulance Service, (NWAS), improved on its ratings from last year, being awarded a ‘fair’ mark for the quality of its services and ‘good’ for its quality of financial management, after two years of being declared ‘fair’ for both. But it fell down from ‘excellent’ to ‘fair’ for its management of national priorities and from ‘almost met’ to ‘partly met’ for its existing commitments. ‘Insufficient assurance’ was given in six of 42 core standards: infection control; updating clinical skills; personal development; mandatory training; consent and having a clean, well designed environment. Sarah Smith, assistant director of communications, said: “We continuously strive to build on our reputation for quality care and financial stability to deliver a better service for all patients and partner organisations and this is reflected in our improved rating for quality of financial management.”

Delight at huge strides made in finance

WARRINGTON and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WHH) ‘excellent’ rating for financial management, marks a real improvement from its position two years ago when it was labelled ‘weak’. A history of financial problems had plagued the hospitals for years. “We are very pleased with our excellent rating particularly when you reflect on our past history,” said chief executive Catherine Beardshaw. The trust failed on only three markers out of 66 – safety alerts, the high number of cancelled operations and the data quality of maternity services. It was marked 100 per cent in standard of care, dignity and respect and keeping the public healthy.