Infirmary staff praised after improving Pennine Acute Trust ratings in annual health check

Staff at Rochdale Infirmary have been praised for their efforts in improving the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust Annual Health Check ratings.

The Healthcare Commission assesses NHS organisations for ‘Quality of Services’ and ‘Use of Resources’, and the Trust improved its ratings in both categories compared with last year.

The Trust runs Rochdale Infirmary, as well as Bury’s Fairfield General Hospital, North Manchester General Hospital and The Royal Oldham Hospital.

The Trust was rated Good for Quality of services, which assesses performance against the key national NHS standards and targets. It considers areas including access to care, patient safety, cleanliness and treating patients’ individual needs. This is an improvement from the rating of Fair, which the Trust had received for the two previous years.

Quality of Services considers areas including access to care, patient safety, cleanliness and treating patients’ individual needs.

The Trust was rated Fair for Use of Resources, which assesses financial management. All financial targets were achieved in 2007-08 and this is an improvement from last year’s rating of Weak.

John Saxby, chief executive, said: “These are very welcome ratings which reflect how we have improved our services for patients over the last year. I would like to thank all staff involved for their efforts.

“However, we will not be complacent. Despite a substantial reduction in MRSA infections year-on-year, the Trust failed to achieve its planned reduction profile. We are now on track to hit this target, thanks to the observation of strict hygiene controls and more widely-spread good practice. That success will only continue if we keep up the hard work.

“I believe that staff at all of our hospitals have made good progress from previous years. We will ensure that we provide them with the support they need to continue with these efforts.”