Standards warning for 47 NHS trusts

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The 47 trusts at the bottom of performance tables published this week now face an uphill struggle to meet new legal standards for the NHS when they are introduced next year, said the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

They received a stark warning from CQC chief executive Cynthia Bower that there must be rapid improvements in standards.

"They must do better for their patients. I want to ring alarm bells in the boardrooms of these organisations," she said.

The ratings are produced by the CQC from a variety of sources including information provided by trusts, their own inspections and audits of hospital finances.

Trusts are given ratings from "weak" to "excellent" based on how they score on their financial management and the quality of care they provide. Next year the CQC will be given tough new powers to force trusts to meet certain basic standards in order to remain open.

If they fail to reach those benchmarks the regulator can impose a range of sanctions including prosecution and closing a service down. Year on year improvements in ratings seem to have stalled according to the new figures.

Fewer trusts scored "excellent" for the quality of their care compared with last year's figures. The drop in ratings was worst among acute hospital trusts with more rated "fair" and fewer "excellent".

More trusts admitted failing to meet core standards on aspects of care like A&E waiting times and more operations were cancelled than last year. Part of the fall in ratings was also down to a more rigorous focus on key issues like hygiene and child protection, said the CQC

But nearly half of all trusts - 47% - were awarded a "good" rating for care, up on 35% in 2007/8.