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Two Lancashire NHS trusts have been ranked among the worst in England in a landmark new league table.
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Royal Preston Hospital and Chorley and South Ribble Hospital, was placed eighth from bottom in the table published today (September 9) by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is ranked tenth from bottom while Mersey And West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust was the best performing trust at 56th place.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the initiative will highlight where immediate assistance is required and help eliminate the “postcode lottery” of care, though experts have cautioned that hospitals serving more challenging areas might be unfairly criticised. The table evaluates NHS trusts across various criteria including financial performance and patient access to treatment, alongside reducing surgical waiting lists and A&E delays, plus enhancing ambulance response times.
At the bottom of the acute hospital trust rankings sits the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, with the Countess of Chester Hospital in second from bottom and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire in third from bottom. The leading acute hospital is London’s Moorfield Eye Hospital’s trust, with the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Trust, also located in the capital, taking second place.
Third position goes to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester, which houses Europe’s largest specialist single-site cancer hospital. You can see how your local hospital trust ranked by using our interactive table:
The launch of the quarterly tables was announced in November and top performers will be given greater freedoms and funding. Mr Streeting said: “We must be honest about the state of the NHS to fix it. Patients and taxpayers have to know how their local NHS services are doing compared to the rest of the country.
As well as rankings for acute trusts, there are also tables ranking non-acute and ambulance trusts. Among ambulance trusts, North West Ambulance Service came top and the East of England Ambulance Service came bottom.
However there are fears that those serving poorer or more isolated areas will be stigmatised. Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents hospital trust leaders, said: “There’s more work to do before patients, staff and trusts can have confidence that these league tables are accurately identifying the best performing organisations.
“For league tables to really drive up standards, tackle variations in care, and boost transparency, they need to measure the right things, be based on accurate, clear and objective data and avoid measuring what isn’t in individual providers’ gift to improve. Anything less could lead to unintended consequences, potentially damaging patient confidence in local health services, demoralising hardworking NHS staff and skewing priorities.”
Trusts in mid-table will be encouraged to learn from trusts at the top to help them improve their rankings. Senior managers at trusts that are persistently ranked poorly could see their pay docked, while NHS leaders will have extra pay incentives to go into challenged trusts and turn them around.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said league tables “must not become instruments of blame”. He said: “We must guard against the risk of perverse incentives and ensure that the metrics used are transparent, relevant, and presented clearly.
“Poorly constructed tables could mislead patients or invite misplaced scrutiny from politicians and the media. To be truly effective, league tables must be objective, reflect what matters most to the public, and avoid penalising high-performing trusts that are contributing to wider system recovery. Above all, they should support improvement, not undermine it.”
Full list of acute trust rankings
1. Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
2. Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust
3. The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
4. Liverpool Heart And Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
5. Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
6. The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
7. The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust
8. The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust
9. Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
10. University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
11. Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
12. Maidstone And Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
13. University Hospitals Bristol And Weston NHS Foundation Trust
14. The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
15. Guy’S And St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
16. Alder Hey Children’S NHS Foundation Trust
17. Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
18. Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust
19. East And North Hertfordshire NHS Trust
20. Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
21. South Tyneside And Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust
22. North Tees And Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust
23. London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust
24. North Bristol NHS Trust
25. South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust
26. The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
27. The Robert Jones And Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
28. Chelsea And Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
29. Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
29. Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
31. Kingston And Richmond NHS Foundation Trust
32. West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
33. The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust
34. Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
35. Harrogate And District NHS Foundation Trust
36. Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust
37. Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
37. Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
37. St George’S University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
40. Great Ormond Street Hospital For Children NHS Foundation Trust
41. Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
41. Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
41. Whittington Health NHS Trust
44. Airedale NHS Foundation Trust
44. Sheffield Children’S NHS Foundation Trust
46. Birmingham Women’S And Children’S NHS Foundation Trust
46. Surrey And Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
48. Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
48. Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
48. University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
51. Doncaster And Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
52. Ashford And St Peter’S Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
53. Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust
54. Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
54. Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
56. Mersey And West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
57. Barking, Havering And Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust
57. Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust
59. Bolton NHS Foundation Trust
59. Tameside And Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust
61. Calderdale And Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust
61. East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
61. Epsom And St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust
64. Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
64. Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
66. County Durham And Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
67. University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust
68. Liverpool Women’S NHS Foundation Trust
68. The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust
70. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
71. Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
71. Torbay And South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
73. Isle Of Wight NHS Trust
73. Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
73. Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
76. Croydon Health Services NHS Trust
76. Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
76. Wye Valley NHS Trust
79. Barts Health NHS Trust
79. King’S College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
79. The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust
82. South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
83. Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust
83. University Hospitals Of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust
83. University Hospitals Of North Midlands NHS Trust
86. East Suffolk And North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
86. Stockport NHS Foundation Trust
88. Sandwell And West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust
89. East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
90. West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
91. Lewisham And Greenwich NHS Trust
92. Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
92. Wrightington, Wigan And Leigh NHS Foundation Trust
94. Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust
95. Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
96. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
96. Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
96. Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust
99. East Cheshire NHS Trust
100. Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
101. East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust
101. Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
101. University Hospitals Of Leicester NHS Trust
104. Portsmouth Hospitals University National Health Service Trust
105. North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust
105. The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
107. Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
108. University Hospitals Of Derby And Burton NHS Foundation Trust
109. University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust
110. Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
111. Norfolk And Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
112. Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust
113. The Shrewsbury And Telford Hospital NHS Trust
114. Dartford And Gravesham NHS Trust
115. Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
116. Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust
117. University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
118. Warrington And Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
118. York And Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
120. The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust
121. George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust
122. United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust
123. Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
123. Mid And South Essex NHS Foundation Trust
125. Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
125. Northern Lincolnshire And Goole NHS Foundation Trust
127. Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
127. University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
129. James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
130. Medway NHS Foundation Trust
130. North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust
132. University Hospitals Coventry And Warwickshire NHS Trust
133. Countess Of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
134. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn, NHS Foundation Trust
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