Hospital league tables will harm, not heal, the NHS | Hospitals
Wes Streting does not seem to understand the complexity of health care financing. The League tables will exacerbate regional differences rather than abolish them (the worst of the Norfolk hospital in the country while the tables of the Réintroduced League, September 9). The problems are not unknown but, unfortunately for this government, will not be resolved over the next four years. It should not be a surprise, especially for Mr. Streting, that the NHS cannot operate effectively until social care is fixed.
There is a massive shortage of staff in all specialties, who take 10 to 15 years to go from the university to a qualified professional. This leads to dependence on the status of locum and the agency. Hospitals at the bottom of the tables will have the greatest use of them, which reduces the quality of care at a higher cost. The increase in the use of private clinics simply loses NHS personnel.
The solutions are neither fast nor easy. Prevention, which is the best way to meet long -term demand, requires cooperation between ministries, which has not been seen for decades.
Dr Michael Peel
London
The new NHS trustee rating system, especially with regard to mental health care, can be too simplistic. In the past year, I had mental health admission involving a transfer of care from one trust to another – care in a neighborhood was much better and well rounded, despite this trust with a two -point lower note. Although this note can be based on the finances of the trustees, I fear that this does not create fear for people in the care of a mental health service, which is already such a difficult process.
Cares in the same confidence but in different services and services are so varied. When a health trust provides so many different services, is it really fair to combine all of this under one number?
Name and address provided
I have read on the new League tables for local hospitals and how they will be responsible for their performance on a range of measures such as waiting times. Did it have an effect on my care? As a victim of skin cancer for over 30 years, I have received exams and a six -month treatment for all this time so far, when my consultant told me that because of a growing waiting list of new cases, my future control assessments would be extended to nine months instead of six.
Over the past 30 years, my treatment has regularly included cutting or freezing lesions. Now I am exposed to the risk of missing a critical diagnosis in time for treatment. Is this an example of hospitals that focus on how to stimulate their classification rather than existing patients?
Bill Mason (100 years old)
Beckenham, Kent
A note for an entire hospital based on 30 measurements is not a use to me if I need elective surgery. There may be five to 20 surgical services in a large hospital. The results of elective surgery will vary between them and between individual surgeons. Waiting times may vary depending on the condition if some surgeons tend to specialize. Overall, this is the wrong note for a complicated choice.
Peter West
Economist of Health, London
Our local Trust of Medway NHS finished fifth from the bottom in the table of the acute confidence league, but the recent experiences of myself and friends in the hospital were excellent. Indeed, I received a letter offering a follow-up date in the two weeks following the return of a self-test kit.
Ralph Jones
ROCHESTER, Kent
