League tables to reveal failing NHS trusts

Failing hospitals will be revealed in league tables and NHS managers sacked if they do not turn things around, the health secretary has told health leaders at a conference in Liverpool.

Wes Streeting is promising a "no-holds-barred, sweeping review" of NHS performance in England.

Hospitals can expect to be ranked on indicators such as care delivery and finances, so patients can see whether they are receiving a good service.

And "turnaround teams" will be sent into struggling trusts, while top performers will have more freedom over spending.

The Department of Health and Social Care says, currently, there is little incentive for trusts to run budget surpluses, from which they are unable to benefit - but that will now change.

Top performers will be given more capital and greater control over where to invest it - be that new equipment or technology or modernising their buildings.

The NHS Oversight Framework, which sets out how trusts and integrated care boards are best monitored, will be updated to ensure performance is properly scrutinised.

And at poorly performing trusts, government and NHS England "deep dives" will identify the most pressing issues and how they can be resolved.

NHS trusts could also be banned from using expensive agency staffing to cover certain rota gaps.

Some recruitment agencies have charged up to £2,000 for a single nursing shift -and last year, temporary workers cost the NHS in England £3bn, the government says.

NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard welcomed the accountability, saying: "The extensive package of reforms, developed together with government, will empower all leaders working in the NHS - and it will give them the tools they need to provide the best possible services for our patients."

But Patients Association chief executive Rachel Power warned the new measures must bring positive change.

"We hope trusts who receive greater funding freedom will use this money wisely - to cut waiting times, make the waiting experience better for patients, and strengthen the ways they work with patients to improve services," she said.

"These are the things that matter most to people using the NHS."

Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, warned that the plans could risk demoralising staff and make recruitment and retention of staff in poorly performing areas "even harder".

He said there was a real danger of "short-term target chasing" which would mean less effort being put into solving the really serious problems in the NHS.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS trusts, said health services were already subject to a lot of oversight and regulation - and the prospect of "more league tables" would concern health leaders.

"NHS staff are doing their very best for patients, under very challenging circumstances, and we do not want them feeling like they are being named and shamed," he said.

"League tables in themselves do not lead to improvement."

Mr Taylor said the "devil will be in the detail around what constitutes failure", much of which could be beyond a health leader's immediate control.

"We look forward to working with the government to make sure that any new measures don’t disincentivise managers from taking on roles in struggling organisations," he said.

NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts in England, said hospitals were already doing everything possible to boost productivity while delivering tough efficiency measures.

Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to read top political analysis, gain insight from across the UK and stay up to speed with the big moments. It’ll be delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.