The Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust has received an assessment of ‘Good’ in the first year of the new ratings system from the national regulator, the Healthcare Commission. This grade came in the Commission’s Quality of Care rating, which shows it is delivering good quality services to patients.
The new Quality of Care rating is based on a range of assessments such as our declaration against the core standards, performance against targets such as waiting times, and specific reviews such as Children’s Services. The Trust fully met these national targets.
There is also a separate assessment for Use of Resources which demonstrates financial performance and management. In this category, we received a ‘weak’ rating on the basis that the Trust didn’t achieve financial balance in the last financial year. The Trust has already made public the plans to remedy this situation.
In both categories, Trusts are given a rating of ‘Weak’, ‘Fair’, ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’.
Children’s services in August were rated as ‘Excellent’ by the Healthcare Commission, and was one of only six in the country to receive this and the only general hospital to have this distinction in London. Medicines management and diagnostic services were rated as ‘good’.
Commenting on the latest assessment, the Mayor said:
'I am delighted that the Healthcare Commission’s findings show Lewisham Hospital is making good progress.
'The area of children’s services, where Lewisham Hospital is the best general hospital in London, is a testament to the hard work of staff and with new facilities opening there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about future performance across all areas.
'The council works closely with the hospital to deliver quality services for local people. We will be very happy to continue to support its important work.'