Primary Care Trust Welcomes Annual Health Check
18/10/2007
Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust today welcomed the publication of the Healthcare Commission’s 2006-2007 ‘Annual Health Check’, which it says highlights progress being made to build strong foundations for future health and healthcare in the county.
Deputy Chief Executive of the PCT, Simon Hairsnape explained that the comprehensive assessment provided a basis for action on improving the health and well being of local people and their experiences of NHS services.
The ‘Health Check’ is based on how well NHS organisations have performed on key indicators during the last financial year and are grouped under ‘Quality of Services’ and ‘Use of Resources’.
The main findings are consistent with the new PCT’s own priorities for improving performance and developing health services for patients over the next three years.
For ‘Quality of Services,’ the Primary Care Trust received a ‘Fair’ score overall.
The ‘Quality of Services’ category covers core standards on patient safety, patient experience and the environment in which patients are treated; existing national standards which cover access to services and waiting times and new national targets on improving the health of the population.
Simon Hairsnape said:
“The performance indicators show that there have been some very significant achievements over the last year right across the county including improved waiting times for inpatient and outpatient hospital care, access to GP services and reductions in the number of patients experiencing delays in transfer from hospital.”
“This is testament to the hard work and dedication of front-line staff who work in primary care, local hospitals and in the community.”
The PCT also acknowledged areas for further improvement such as ambulance response times, further reductions in adult smoking rates and greater support for people with long term conditions at home to help reduce hospital admissions.
Commenting on the ‘Fair’ score for ‘Use of Resources’ which includes financial management, Simon said:
“We have always acknowledged the need to get the balance right between meeting important priorities and targets for improving patient care, whilst ensuring we achieve value for money for every penny and every pound spent on healthcare.”
“We are pleased that our score this year reflects the improvements we have been making and since the review period we have maintained a sound financial position. This will benefit services in the coming years as we plan future investments to meet the needs of our patients.”
The PCT achieved a ‘Good’ score for public health development standards, a rating received by only a third of PCTs across the country. The standards cover use of public health information to identify the different health needs of local communities and plan services.
The Primary Care Trust also achieved a ‘Fair’ score for the Healthcare Commission’s review of Diabetes services. The review showed that diabetes services across the county are continuing to expand and develop and more of these services are being delivered more locally for the benefit of service users.
During the past year, there has been continued development of community based group education programmes across the county for those newly diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
Simon Hairsnape added:
“It has been a challenging period where we have sought to focus
on the quality of care received by patients and achieve financial stability
for the local NHS whilst bringing three Primary Care Trusts together into
one. We are proud of the achievements of our staff and confident of further
improvements over the course of the next year.”
The Annual Health Check Summary
Gloucestershire PCT received the following ratings from the Healthcare
Commission:
Overall scores |
Use of resources |
Quality of services |
Gloucestershire PCT |
Fair |
Fair |
Development Standards |
Score |
Public Health |
Good |
Focus on Services |
Score |
Diabetes |
Fair |
Further information on the Annual Health Check will be available on the
Healthcare Commission’s
website.
Three PCTs merged in 2006 to form Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust,
so comparable scores for previous years are not available.
