Stanmore hospital rated "weak" (From Harrow Times)

Stanmore hospital rated "weak"

12:10am Thursday 16th October 2008 in

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A SPECIALIST health trust rated poorly in a watchdog report has hit back at its “weak” status.

Rob Hurd, acting chief executive of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust, said the latest Healthcare Commission report does not show its current position.

He said: “Our clinical expertise has always been of the highest and that remains the case.

“Unfortunately that is not reflected in the overall annual health check rating.”

The trust, which runs the specialist orthopaedic hospital in Brockley Hill, Stanmore, was rated weak for both use of resources and quality of care in the report, released this morning.

But Mr Hurd launched a passionate defence of the trust’s work, saying: “The complex nature of our work and the high demand for the expertise of our clinicians affects our ability to meet patient access targets.”

He said despite performing more operations than ever before, making a financial surplus, reducing waiting times, and not having any cases of MRSA this year, they were still rated as weak.

He added: “Although we did achieve a surplus in 2007/8, we did not manage to dispose of our historic debt in full, which is why we have a weak rating for use of resources.

“But this year we are on course to achieve our target of a £1m surplus which will mean a better result next year.”

The trust is developing plans for a brand new £110m hospital, which it hopes will radically improve the scores given to them by the Healthcare Commission.

The new hospital will replace decades old buildings which are not efficient and patient-friendly, and restrict the capacity of the hospital and its ability to deal with patients swiftly.