WARRINGTON Hospital has been awarded two stars in a new performance rating system for acute NHS Trusts published for the first time yesterday.

The ratings, on a scale of none to three, with none being the worst score, apply to the last financial year, the period prior to the merger of the NHS trusts of Warrington and Halton Hospitals which became effective from April 1 this year.

The trust has achieved a good standard in their reduction of outpatient waiting times, the total number awaiting an inpatient appointment and the percentage seen within 13 weeks of a GP's letter for the first outpatient appointment.

The hospital has also been praised for the percentage of patients waiting less than two weeks from urgent GP referral to outpatient appointment for suspected breast cancer, financial performance, hospital cleanliness and commitment to improving working lives.

However a significant area of under-achievement was noted in the percentage of patients waiting less than six months for an inpatient appointment at the end of the fourth quarter. Other under-achievements outlined were trolley waits greater than four hours as a percentage of all emergency admissions and the sickness or absence rate for NHS staff.

But the hospital claims that more than a quarter of all patients waiting more than six months for an inpatient appointment at the end of the quarter were those requiring ophthalmology treatment. They add that the hospital has a policy of seeing all ophthalmology outpatients within two weeks which they claim is one of the lowest waiting times for any trust in the country and that the result is that high numbers of patients are then referred very quickly to the inpatient waiting list.

The trust says it is one of only two in the country to pilot the Ideal Design for Emergency Access project, the objectives of which are to cut waiting times in the A & E Department, bringing into line emergency care and improving patients experiences by identifying and removing obstacles which prevent them moving through the system quickly. It claims the project is already resulting in a reduction in delays experienced in the A and E Department.

They add that the trust has a policy of interviewing any staff who experience three periods of sickness within three months and that these staff members work with the occupational health department to draw up an action plan in a bid to prevent avoidable sickness in the future.

Paul Cronin, new chief executive of North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust, who took up his post on Monday, September 17 said: "We are pleased with our overall performance in the ratings tables, but we are not complacent. We appreciate there is room for improvement in a number of key areas.

"One of the many benefits of the merger has been our ability to share best practice across our two hospitals, which have a long tradition of working successfully together."

He added: "We are now building on these strong foundations to raise and harmonise clinical standards and a number of new initiatives which have been launched in the six months since the merger are already having positive effects on our overall performance."