Hospital Performance

An important part of maintaining standards and ensuring improvement in the services the Trust provides is measuring and monitoring how we treat patients. Along with all NHS organisations, the performance of The Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust is assessed by the Healthcare Commission.

On 1 April 2005, the Healthcare Commission launched the annual health check, an entirely new approach to assessing the performance of NHS organisations. This system is based on performance within a framework of national standards and government targets and replaces the previous system of star ratings.

The annual health check includes:

• An assessment of the Trust's performance against new and existing targets
• Performance against standards for better health
• Use of resources (how well Trusts are using their resources and whether they are achieving value for money)
• A programme of reviews / inspections.

The overall aim of the assessment of performance is to promote the delivery of quality healthcare. It will also help people to make better informed decisions about their care, promote the sharing of information and give clearer expectations on standards of performance.

As part of the annual health check all NHS organisations were required to submit a self declaration of their compliance with the Department of Health's core standard over the period 1 April 2007 - 31 March 2008.

	Click here for the 2007/08 declaration from The Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust.
	Click here to visit the Healthcare Commission website.

For more information about the annual health check, click here to email Cath Gorman, Systems Analyst Manager.