Good diagnosis for health trusts

Four of the county’s trusts are among 41 in the whole country to score ‘excellent’ for quality and at least ‘good’ for financial management after being ranked at least ‘good’ in both categories last year.

The best area for quality of services is Bournemouth and Poole, where NHS Bournemouth and Poole, Poole Hospital, Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals, and Dorset Healthcare are all rated ‘excellent’.

The two hospital trusts were also among only 22 acute hospital trusts in the country to be given a double excellent rating. For Poole, the accolade comes in the same year as the hospital was named safest in the UK.

The Royal Bournemouth was one of only two trusts in the country to gain full marks in several areas, including safety and cleanliness, waiting to be seen, dignity and respect, and good management.

NHS Bournemouth and Poole was the only primary care trust in the south-west to be rated ‘excellent’ for the quality of the services it commissions. It was ‘good’ for financial management.

Mental health and learning disabilities trust Dorset HealthCare was rated ‘excellent’ for quality of services for the fourth year, and for financial management for the second year in a row.

NHS Dorset, the PCT for the county outside Bournemouth and Poole, was given a double ‘good’ for its commissioning arm, while its new provider arm, Dorset Community Health Services, had the same rating for its quality of services.

Sir Ian Carruthers, chief executive of NHS South West, said: “I am delighted the NHS locally has maintained its strong performance. We know strong financial performance goes hand-in-hand with high-quality patient care.

“We have set ourselves ambitious targets to deliver some of the best healthcare in Europe and we are already making great strides, such as reducing waiting times for hospital treatment from the national standard of 18 weeks down to just eight in some areas.”