Publications:
Inside Your Hospital
Dr Foster Hospital Guide 2001-2011
29 November 2011
This is the tenth Dr Foster Hospital Guide. It is a moment to reflect on how healthcare has changed in England over the past ten years.
Improvements in patient safety, reductions in infection rates and better waiting times
have all contributed to an improved NHS. There has been a remarkable fall in mortality rates. The death rate among the population is over 20 per cent lower than it was a decade ago, helped by better hospital care.
At the same time, it is concerning that many of the issues raised in the first Hospital Guide remain problems ten years later: hospitals performing low volumes of surgery where high levels are needed to ensure good outcomes, and hospitals failing to meet the best standards of care despite many years of evidence of the impact this has on patients.
A safe NHS is an NHS that provides care 24/7. This year’s guide shows that we are
some way from that target, with significantly reduced services at weekends and nights. It will take hospitals, GPs and ambulance crews working together to configure
services in a way that ensures safe care round the clock.
For some conditions, greater concentration of specialist services in fewer but high-performing hospitals is required. For other conditions, providing services locally at
weekends and evenings is the answer. It means changing the way our hospitals work. The examples of best practice in this guide demonstrate that it is possible.
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