1:54pm Tuesday 27th October 2009
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) says one in eight NHS trusts must urgently improve the care it provides.
The CQC found a drop in the number of hospitals meeting basic standards in areas such as hygiene and safety. But it also said more services than ever could be rated good or excellent.
The CQC published ratings on England's 392 trusts and looked at every type of NHS trust, including acute, mental health, primary care and ambulance. The Blackburn with Darwen NHS trust in 2008 - 2009 in meeting core standard & providing services - the score said they just met the criteria. And when it came to commissioning services it was scored at fair. This shows there is room for tremendous improvement. There certainly going to be challenges for the local PCT NHS. They are going have to get the act together or I dread to think what will happen if they do not improve.
And from April 2010, the CQC will gain new powers to be able to shut any of the 47 underachieving trusts down.
I love the NHS, but it is a sadly neglected and bloated organisation, seemingly run with large amounts of waste.
I have been fortunate in not needing to visit a hospital for some years now, but I have had to make a number of visits to my GP. He is excellent, a first-class diagnostician and always sorts out my problems.
I am extremely happy with the NHS at local medical level. The medical and nursing staffs are fantastic. However, there are far too many so-called managers who lack business acumen, and far too much money is wasted on their salaries etc, when it could be put to much better use.
What I am about to say will be controversial, but I think the problem in the NHS is the people at the top level. There are too few with any experience on how to run the PCT NHS.
The NHS has focused so much on trying to meet waiting list targets, that they have wasted huge amounts of budget on carting people through a system that neither listens or cares anymore, just focused on getting you in and out. Day surgeries are now like cattle markets, and very little is done, sometimes a bigger procedure is then required, costing the NHS more expense. There is so much wastage in the PCT NHS, it needs someone brave enough/clever enough to seriously reform it.
Councillor Salim Mulla, Blackburn
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