West Herts’ healthcare report: could do better

8:40am Monday 6th October 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

West Hertfordshire NHS services received a “fair” overall rating in a report released last month, but performed badly in providing facilities for patients with disabilities and from ethnic groups.

For the first report of its kind the Healthcare Commission collected data from primary care trusts, acute trusts, ambulance trusts, NHS Direct and out-of-hours GP providers from April to September last year to assess patient care and services.

The average score for West Herts’ services was 2.89 out of a possible highest score of five.

The Healthcare Commission said: “The group of trusts which is scoring at this level in the distribution of performance should benefit from improvement for one or more of the key areas covered in the review.”

Hospitals within the West Hertfordshire area performed poorly by receiving a score of one out of five on providing facilities for people with disabilities and also dealing with sensitivity to the needs of patients from different ethnic backgrounds.

A West Hertfordshire NHS Hospital Trust spokeswoman said all patients are treated with respect, courtesy and compassion.

She said: “We do have access for people with disabilities including wheelchair access and disabled toilets and provide a 24-hours-a-day interpreting, translating and signing service for patients if required.

“As a trust we are sensitive to the religious and cultural needs of our patients and meet with community leaders on a regular basis.”

Patients being involved in decisions about the way services are run and whether resources are used effectively in patient care both received the highest grade of five.

The ambulance services in the area also scored well by receiving four out of five for treating patients in their homes during an emergency and also for telephone advice.

Andrew Parker, director of primary care and service redesign at West Hertfordshire PCT, said: “We welcome the findings of this review which has highlighted some good practice.

"We recognise that to make further improvements to our urgent and emergency care services, all NHS organisations need to work closely together.”

Mr Parker added that the PCT would be establishing an emergency care network to bring together groups responsible for healthcare services in the area.