England’s best and worst performing hospitals for waiting times, cancer treatment and other key targets have been named on a new online dashboard intended to give the public more information on how local NHS services compare.
Trusts have been ranked by seven measures of performance that also include time patients spend in emergency departments or waiting for diagnostic tests.
While NHS commentators welcomed greater transparency, they warned that the “basic rankings” will not give people the full picture of how their local hospital is performing overall.
The data used to create the league tables, which were published online by NHS England, has always been available.
However, this is the first time is has been presented in this format and in a user-friendly way.
The latest data shows that:
– Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, based in Cheshire and Merseyside, topped the list of trusts with the highest proportion of patients in May whose treatment started within 18 weeks (97.4%), followed by the Christie trust in Manchester (95.0%) and the Royal Marsden in London (94.0%); the Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Shropshire had the lowest (44.5%), followed by Countess of Chester (47.9%) and Milton Keynes University (49.1%).
– Countess of Chester had the highest percentage of patients in May that had waited more than a year to start treatment (7.6%), followed by Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt (6.9%) and Mid & South Essex (6.8%), while six trusts were tied on 0.0%: Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, Gateshead in Tyne & Wear, Harrogate & District in North Yorkshire, Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells in Kent, South Tyneside & Sunderland and Tameside & Glossop in Greater Manchester & Derbyshire.
– Queen Victoria Hospital trust, based in West Sussex, had the highest proportion of patients in June who waited less than four hours from arrival at A&E to admission, transfer or discharge (96.4%), followed by Moorfields Eye Hospital in London (96.0%) and Sheffield Children’s (93.7%); East Cheshire had the lowest (46.7%), followed by Shrewsbury & Telford in Shropshire (53.0%) and Nottingham University (56.4%).
– Warrington & Halton Teaching Hospitals in Cheshire had the highest proportion of patients in June who waited over 12 hours from arrival at A&E to admission, transfer or discharge (24.3%), followed by Blackpool Teaching Hospitals (22.5%) and Wirral University (22.3%); Moorfields Eye Hospital had the lowest (0.0%), followed by Northumbria Healthcare (0.2%) and Alder Hey Children’s in Liverpool (0.2%). Not all providers submitted data for this measure and the figures are for type 1 (consultant-led major departments) and type 2 (consultant-led specialised services) A&Es only.
– Bolton trust in Greater Manchester had the highest percentage of patients in May who, after being urgently referred for suspected cancer, were diagnosed or had cancer ruled out within 28 days (89.5%), followed by Kingston & Richmond in London (85.5%) and Bradford Teaching Hospitals in West Yorkshire (84.5%); Medway in Kent had the lowest (53.8%), followed by Hull University Teaching Hospitals (55.6%) and Mid & South Essex (58.8%). These rankings exclude providers that are cancer specialist treatment centres or single speciality trusts.
– Calderdale & Huddersfield in West Yorkshire had the highest percentage of patients who had waited no longer than 62 days in May from an urgent suspected cancer referral, or consultant upgrade, to their first definitive treatment for cancer (90.3%), followed by Bolton (87.8%) and East & North Hertfordshire (86.9%); Mid & South Essex had the lowest (42.3%), followed by Hull University Teaching Hospitals (46.3%) and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals (47.1%). These rankings exclude providers that are cancer specialist treatment centres or single speciality trusts.
– West Suffolk had the highest proportion of patients in May who had waited longer than six weeks for any one of 15 standard diagnostic tests, such as an MRI scan, non-obstetric ultrasound or gastroscopy (56.2%), followed by East & North Hertfordshire (53.2%) and King’s College in London (49.2%); the lowest was the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre (0.0%), followed by the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham (0.3%) and Moorfields Eye Hospital (0.5%).
Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “Greater transparency is good and people should be able to see how their local NHS trust is performing.
“However there is a risk of comparing apples and pears, as the data doesn’t always capture differences between trusts in the services available, particularly for specialist providers.
“The data must be accurate, too. Even a small error could make a big difference to a trust’s ‘ranking’.
“Many trusts face particular challenges, for example as a result of local demographics, staffing or the quality of their buildings and equipment.
“Basic ‘rankings’ can’t give patients the full picture and it will be important to make sure that this approach doesn’t widen the gulf between trusts at the top of the table and those which – often for reasons beyond their control – need more support.”
The rankings on these key measures come after Health Secretary Wes Streeting promised to tackle poor performance in the health service.
In November, he announced plans to name and shame failing hospitals in league tables and sack NHS managers if they cannot improve patient care and take control of finances.
Trusts can expect to be ranked on a range of indicators such as finances, delivery of services, patient access to care and the competency of leadership.
These tables are expected to be available by the end of the summer.
An NHS spokesperson said: “The new tables published today aim to boost transparency and arm organisations and patients with information by showing performance for each trust on seven key measures.
“We recognise trusts face different challenges, and giving leaders and clinical teams accurate, up-to-date information means they can have the latest view of what they are delivering, where performance needs to improve and help identify where problems may lie.”
