Walsall Manor one of most improved hospitals in country

AN INDEPENDENT hospital review has found Walsall Manor to be one of the most improved in the country.

The Hospital Guide, published on Monday by Dr Foster, placed the Manor as a 'Band 4' hospital - with Band 5 being the highest.

Walsall was in the top five for the most improved hospitals for standardised mortality ratios (HSMRs) – with a 30 per cent reduction on last year.

"I am delighted that our high performance in terms of quality has been recognised by Dr Foster," said Mike Browne, Medical Director for Walsall Manor Hospital.

"Mike Browne, Medical Director for Walsall Manor Hospital.

"The whole hospital focused on measures to reduce mortality, to halve the number of complications, to eliminate infection, and improve the overall patient experience. Progress against these is examined critically every month by the board, so that anything preventing the achievement of these quality targets are rapidly identified and corrected.

"We have used the best ideas from other hospitals and from the American Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and taken advantage of joining big national improvement campaigns, that have helped us to achieve our quality ambitions.

"These include the Patient Safety First, Clean Your Hands and Saving Lives campaigns."

"From the board down to the ward, we have made quality of care top priority for our organisation."

Commenting on the findings of the Hospital Guide on West Midlands hospitals, Roger Taylor, Director and co-founder of Dr Foster, said: "Over the last nine years of the Hospital Guide we have seen a steady improvement in hospital performance but unacceptable variations between hospitals still exists. Dr Foster will continue to publish data in order to provide information to the public, drive improvement in patient care and save lives.

"Hospital trusts should use the Guide to carefully investigate where problems exist, even those who have performed well. Patients and the public should use the Hospital Guide to help make choices about where they want to be treated, to ask the right questions of their health professionals and to hold hospitals to account."

The Hospital Guide has produced a scoring system to measure compliance with patient safely measures in individual hospitals based across an analysis of 13 safety indicators.

The scores, derived using an established statistical technique, range from 0 and 100 with 0 being the lowest and 100 being the highest.

To be able to measure distinctions between the performance of each hospital, the scores are grouped into five bands, with the poorest performing group of hospitals being banded as '1' and the best performing hospitals being banded as '5'.

■ Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust; Band 5; Score - 93,84

■ Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust; Band 4; Score - 69.18

■ George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, Band 4; Score - 67.12

■Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust; Band 4; Score - 61.64