South Central Ambulance Service ranked third from bottom in new NHS league tables

West Berkshire’s ambulance service has been ‘named and shamed’ in new NHS league tables, published for the first time today.

South Central Ambulance Service has been ranked third from bottom in a performance table of the 10 trusts in England responsible for 999 emergencies.

The new league tables see trusts placed into four performance categories – with category one reflecting the best performers and category four the worst.

Trusts are also ranked within that category using a ‘score’ determined by averaging their performance against a range of targets, such as reducing waiting times for treatment or improving ambulance response times.

To allow for fair comparisons organisations have also been grouped into separate tables for acute trusts (those responsible mostly for short-term care usually in a hospital), non-acute (longer-term care usually including mental health services) and ambulance services.

South Central Ambulance Service, which covers 999 and NHS 111 services in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire, has been put into category four – the worst possible classification – in position eight of 10 England ambulance trusts, with a score of 2.75.

In launching the new tables, health secretary Wes Streeting says the Government must be “honest about the state of the NHS” in order to fix it.

He added: “Patients and taxpayers have to know how their local NHS services are doing compared to the rest of the country.

“These league tables will identify where urgent support is needed and allow high-performing areas to share best practices with others, taking the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS.

“Patients know when local services aren’t up to scratch, and they want to see an end to the postcode lottery – that’s what this Government is doing.”

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), which intends to publish updated tables every quarter, says the top performers will be given greater freedoms while those under-performing will get greater targeted support.

Pay for senior managers is also expected to be tied to performance as the new system is rolled out.

Performing well – according to the new league tables – is Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which runs West Berkshire Community Hospital.

The non-acute organisation, which among other things is also responsible for mental health services, audiology, pharmacy, sexual health and blood testing services, has been ranked as a category one trust.

It is in position three out of 61 non acute trusts in England, with a score of 1.79.

Hospitals in the region were all placed in category three – with Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust ranked 34th out of 134 acute hospital trusts with a score of 1.95.

John Radcliffe Hospital’s Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was in position 54 with a score of 2.24, Swindon’s Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, also category three, was in position 76 with a score of 2.43, while Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Basingstoke and North Hampsire Hospital, was second to last in category three – in position 101 – with a score of 2.60.

Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, said there would be clear benefits to keeping patients better informed.

He explained: “Letting patients and the public access more data will help to drive improvement even faster by supporting them to identify where they should demand even better from their NHS and by putting more power in their hands to make informed decisions on their choice of provider.”