Press release: NHS Confederation welcomes star ratings as proof of NHS improvement

27 Jul 2005

The NHS Confederation, whose members include more than 90 per cent of NHS organisations, welcomes today's publication of star ratings which show that NHS trusts in England have improved their performance against tougher targets over the last year.

Dr Gill Morgan, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation, says: "The star ratings published by the Healthcare Commission today prove that less people are dying from the 'big killers' like cancer, stroke and heart disease, fewer patients are suffering MRSA infections in our hospitals and patients are waiting less time for outpatient appointments and operations.

"We welcome the Healthcare Commission's acknowledgement that NHS trusts are improving their performance against an ever more demanding set of targets - that is good news for patients and a tribute to the hard work of all NHS staff. 

"More trusts have the maximum three stars and fewer trusts have zero stars even though it's become progressively more difficult to be a three-star trust."

The Healthcare Commission highlights the issue of financial performance because, while 75 per cent of trusts achieved financial balance for 2004/05, the remaining 25 per cent of trusts failed to do so.

Gill Morgan says: "There is no doubt that finances remain tight for many NHS organisations as a result of significant cost pressures including pay modernisation schemes, such as the new contracts for GPs and hospital consultants and Agenda for Change, and prescribing expensive new drugs whose costs run ahead of inflation.

"A significant proportion of the extra £5.9 billion invested in the NHS budget during 2004/05 was spent on employing new staff to accommodate demand for NHS services, maintaining competitive pay levels to attract the best staff, keeping up with the cost of additional prescribing and purchasing more goods and services."
Gill Morgan welcomes the abolition of star ratings and their replacement by a new annual health check. She says: "The scrapping of star ratings is a good day for patients who may believe that their local hospital has lost a star because its services have deteriorated over the last year.

"In fact, trusts have been measured against targets that have become progressively tougher and so some NHS trusts may earn fewer stars this year despite providing a better standard of care for their patients.
"We believe that, in some instances, star ratings have become a perverse system which scares patients and the public unnecessarily and demoralises hard-working NHS staff - that's why we are delighted that star ratings are being abolished and replaced with a new, fairer system of assessment."

ENDS

Notes for editors

The NHS Confederation represents more than 90 per cent of the organisations that make up the NHS throughout the UK. Its members include the majority of NHS trusts, foundation trusts, primary care trusts and health authorities in England; trusts and local health boards in Wales; NHS boards and special boards in Scotland; and health and social service trusts and boards in Northern Ireland. 

Contact details

Contact Media Relations Manager Matt Akid on 020 7074 3306 or 07887 633344 or Media Officer Amy Darlington on 020 7074 3304 - out of hours, contact the on-call press officer on 07880 500726.

Back to media centre