Do our trusts deliver a healthy standard?

OLDHAM’S ANNUAL HEALTH CHECK RESULTS

Today’s annual Health Check from the Healthcare Commission is billed as the most comprehensive ever assessment of performance in the NHS.

The health watchdog put the finances and services provided by every NHS trust in the country under the spotlight to find out which are the best performers.

Each are awarded with a rating from a four-point scale of “excellent,” “good,” “fair” and “weak,” and given recommendations for improvement.

It based its findings on how trusts measured up to:

n 43 “core standards,” covering issues such as safety, patient focus, clinical effectiveness and value for money.

n 16 existing national targets, such as ambulance response times, inpatient and outpatient waits, and how quickly people with cancer are seen.

n 13 new national targets, including MRSA levels, drug treatment, reducing smoking rates and under-18 conception waits, waiting times for diagnostic tests and halting the rise in obesity in children.

It also took into account the views of groups from within each local community, such as patient and public involvement forums, as well as responses from patients to a range of surveys aimed at finding out their experiences from going through the healthcare system.

Nationally, there was an increase in the number of trusts rated excellent and good on the quality of services they offer to patients.

But the watchdog warned there were still areas that needed attention, including managing infections like MRSA and Clostridium difficile.

See how the four healthcare organisations covering Oldham fared, and for more detailed information log on to the Healthcare Commission’s website at www.healthcarecommission.org.uk 

Overall ratings at a glance

First assessment for management of finances, second for quality of service

Oldham PCT — Good/Good

N-W Ambulance Service — Fair/Fair

Pennine Acute NHS Trust — Fair/Good

Pennine Care NHS Trust — Good/Excellent

Best results yet as quality rises
OLDHAM PRIMARY CARE TRUST
THE trust boosted its ratings to “good” for both quality of services and for its finances - its best overall result yet in the three years that performance has been measured this way.

The findings put the PCT among the top third in the country for quality of services, and in the top half for its finances.

For the last two years, the PCT’s finances got the same second best “good” rating, but the quality of its services were rated only as “fair.”

The Healthcare Commission said it believed the trust provided “a good quality of service to patients, having made improvements compared with the previous two years,” and said it had continued to be good at managing its finances.

It also highlighted the fact that in a national survey, patients rated Oldham PCT as “satisfactory” in terms of their overall experience.

Chief Executive Gail Richards said she was pleased with this year’s improved performance scoring, particularly in view of the fact that the goalposts were continually changing, and targets were harder to reach each year.

The Health Check revealed the PCT is among the best in the country at making sure patients can choose the hospital they want to go to, and are able to book an appointment time to suit themselves, although PCT bosses admit the system does not yet run smoothly for all patients all of the time.

Improved performance was put down to the efforts of hard-working staff, and Mrs Richards said it was now vital to focus on some of Oldham’s biggest health issues, such as improving heart health, cutting cancer rates and helping people access the services they need.

“We need to do this by working with patients and listening to what they say. Their perceptions of health and the services on offer are vital,” she said.

Overall, the trust fully met all 43 core standards, and achieved 12 of the existing national targets, failing two and underachieving two.

It failed with regard to being able to see a GP within 48 hours, although the trust says patients can see a GP at the Walk-In-Centre within the target time, although it won’t be their own family doctor.

An action plan includes introducing appointment booking by text or over the internet, extra out-of-hours clinics, telephone consultations, and new practices opening in Oldham next year to relieve the pressure on existing practices.

It also failed in relation to commissioning crisis resolution services for all people with mental health problems who need emergency help.

The trust says that was down to changes in the way the target was measured, and action meant that was now being met.

It underachieved for ambulances meeting a 19-minute target across the North-West, although that is met in Oldham, and for patients with long-term conditions being registered and called back for review, which related to diabetics, where the 97 per cent rate is below the target.

The PCT was found to be in the top 20 per cent for providing sexual health services — a new national target — but failed in two areas: waiting times for diagnostic tests, which related to reviewing people fitted with a hearing aid; and commissioning early intervention psychosis services to treat people in the early stage of their illness, which the trust says it is working alongside mental health bosses from Pennine Care Trust to resolve.

The trust was also scrutinised on its provision of urgent and emergency care, for which it was named as one of the “better performing” trusts, and on its substance misuse service, found to be “excellent.”


Archer praises staff

PENNINE CARE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
THE organisation which looks after Oldham’s mental health services scored the top “excellent” grade for the quality of its services, and “good” for management of its finances.

The ratings are the same as those awarded last year to Pennine Care Trust, before it became the nation’s 100th foundation trust in July.

A spokeswoman for the trust said it had achieved all its financial targets, and scored highly across all the new and existing targets.

She said it had worked in partnership with primary care trusts, including Oldham, and local authorities to provide new forms of home treatment for people who would previously have had to go to hospital, and highlighted extra cash poured into its 24-hour crisis resolution services.

A delighted John Archer, Chief Executive, said: “It is a privilege to lead an organisation with such a dedicated and capable staff who are consistently providing services of the highest quality to patients.”

As a foundation trust, it has enlisted the help of more than 8,000 members of the public to have a say in the way its services develop.

Mr Archer said that made it more answerable to local people, and more responsive to local needs, adding: “This is an exciting time for Pennine Care, and I am confident that we will continue to deliver excellent services for local people.”


Double boost

PENNINE ACUTE TRUST
THE trust which runs the Royal Oldham Hospital and hospitals in Bury, North Manchester and Rochdale has improved its rating in both service quality and finances.

It earned a “good” rating for the quality of its services, which was up one level from its “fair” rating of the last two years, and for management of its finances it was awarded a “fair” rating, compared to last year’s “weak” rating.

Areas scrutinised under quality of services include access to care, patient safety, cleanliness and treating patients’ individual needs, and it achieved all its financial targets during the year.

John Saxby, Chief Executive, said: “These are very welcome ratings which reflect how we have improved our services for patients over the last year.”

He also put the improvements down to hard-working staff, but added: “However, we will not be complacent.

“Despite a substantial reduction in MRSA infections year-on-year, the trust failed to achieve its planned reduction profile.

“We are now on track to hit this target, thanks to the observation of strict hygiene controls and more widely-spread good practice. However, that success will only continue to do so if we keep up the good work. “


NORTH WEST AMBULANCE SERVICE

THE service earned a double “fair” rating for quality of its services and management of finances.

Ambulance bosses say they were pleased with the achievement, gained despite a rise in both the number of emergency and non-emergency call-outs and the “enormous challenge” of meeting targets on the back of stricter methods of measuring response times.

Chief Executive John Burnside said failings revealed by Health Check had already been acted upon to make sure the service met the standards required next year.

Measures taken include significant investment in its fleet of vehicles in a bid to meet ever-changing needs and demands, and extra staff employed.

The trust failed to hit a national target of reaching 95 per cent of category B calls — those which are not immediately life-threatening — within 19 minutes.