Primary Care Trust declares national standards met

Heywood, Middleton amp; Rochdale Primary Care Trust (PCT) has declared full compliance with all 24 standards set by the Healthcare Commission as the first part of the Annual Healthcheck which is designed to ensure that health services are of a safe and acceptable quality.

In making this declaration, Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council and the local Patient amp; Public Involvement Forum also had the opportunity to comment.

The Healthcare Commission will now undertake a rigorous cross-checking exercise and take a view on whether the declaration is accurate with the results expected in October.

Chief Executive of the PCT, Trevor Purt, said: “We undertook a detailed internal exercise to ensure that our declaration was accurate. In October 2006, we felt that we did not meet the new standards in relation to decontamination of equipment.”

“As a result, we introduced new practices to ensure that patient safety was not compromised and invested over £750k in new equipment to ensure that we could meet the revised rules.”

“We now firmly believe that we meet the levels set by the Healthcare Commission. My staff have worked incredibly hard to achieve these standards and are continuing to make efforts to get even better.”

“The local population should take reassurance from the declaration that their Primary Care Trust is one of only 47 across the country to reach all of the standards.”

The compliance statement forms part of the PCT’s annual health check which aims to provide patients and the public with a more comprehensive picture of the performance of NHS organisations than was possible under the old star rating system.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: "The declarations of compliance with core standards have been made by individual organisations as part of the Healthcare Commission's annual health check process. The declarations are as yet unvalidated and the HC are checking these against other intelligence. Once they have gone through their formal processes to determine the overall performance rating in October, the Department will of course respond appropriately. Organisations should of course act straight away to make improvements where there is evidence of a problem."

Jo Dent, Head of North region for the Healthcare Commission, covering the three strategic health authority areas of North West, Yorkshire and the Humber and North East, said: "Trusts across the north of the country are to be commended for once again submitting declarations that indicate a high level of compliance against the core standards. 53% of Trusts in the region declared compliance against all 24 standards compared with an average of 34% across the rest of the country. The Commission will now take a view on whether declarations are accurate but only after carrying out a rigorous cross-checking exercise over the summer.”