03 December 2004
The replacement for NHS star ratings in England will give patients a 'richer picture' of trusts' strengths and weaknesses and include a wider assessment of their financial position, the Healthcare Commission said this week.
Commission chair Sir Ian Kennedy published proposals to grade trusts in one of five categories from next April – the first results will be published in 2006. The categories are: very good, good, satisfactory, unsatisfactory and serious concerns.
'We will build a richer picture of health care organisations. We want to hear from patients, the public and those working in health care about what information they would find most useful,' Kennedy said.
Currently, trusts can lose a star if they fail the financial management standard – by having unplanned debts of more than £1m or 1% of turnover, for example. This has been criticised as too rigid.
The new annual health checks will cover seven areas laid down by the Department of Health, including clinical and cost effectiveness, governance and public health.
The commission hopes all trusts will meet these 'basic' standards by 2006 so it can move on to implement developmental targets, which it hopes will further increase the quality of care.
Assessments will give greater weight to the concerns of patients, public and staff – standards could be adapted to reflect concerns such as hospital cleanliness or occurrence of MRSA.
NHS Confederation policy director Nigel Edwards welcomed the proposals, but insisted the new system must be less crude than star ratings.
'Hospitals must no longer be branded failures for under-performance against a single criterion, which could boil down to the waiting times for a handful of patients or minor changes to their financial status,' he said.
PFdec2004
