BURY'S hospitals put in another five-star performance in new government league tables.

The Bury Health Care NHS Trust scored 25 of the top ratings out of a possible 40.

Grades are given to monitor hospitals' performance against Patients' Charter Standards and Bury's score is well above average.

Tables measure a number of factors such as waiting times for operations and outpatient appointments and numbers of patients treated within a month of a cancelled operation.

The results are slightly down from last year which hospital bosses blame on the recent bed-blocking crisis.

The trust's 100 per cent record in getting patients assessed within five minutes in accident and emergency dropped over the last year to 93 per cent.

Mr John Bradley, trust chairman believes this is a knock-on effect of bed-blocking, where elderly people waiting for a place in a nursing home are stuck in hospital, causing a bed queue in accident and emergency as patients wait for beds to become free.

He said: "The problems feed down and are most acutely felt in areas such as A&E. It slows the whole process with staff having their time taken up looking after patients on trolleys waiting for beds."

"If we could sort out bed-blocking our performance figures would be very much improved."

Long waiting lists in the orthopaedics department are still proving to be a problem for the trust with 42 per cent of patients waiting more than 13 weeks for an orthopaedic operation.

This has had a knock-on effect on the overall waiting list scores with 12 per cent of patients waiting more than 13 weeks for an outpatient appointment and 13 per cent waiting more than three months for an operation across all specialities. Despite this, waiting times are still well below the national average.

Mrs Pamela McKee, director of contracts and business planning at the trust said: "Our ratings are brought down by waiting lists in orthopaedics. We have a bigger elderly population and there is an ever increasing demand for orthopaedics operations such as hip replacements."

The league tables also revealed that patients missing appointments is a significant problem at Bury General and Fairfield with 12 per cent of people not turning up.

Mr Bradley said: "Because we offer a 'free' service people take it for granted. It's all right for people to change their mind about an appointment but they must let us know, because missed appointments cost money."

The rest of the league table results stayed steady and were welcomed by Mr Bradley who said: "The staff are to be congratulated on another year of outstanding performance. At a difficult time, they have demonstrated the ability for sustained quality in health care.

"These performance tables are rather like the end of year at school in which the lesson is that we can do better. In any human organisation there is always room for improvement and we shall strive this coming year for further improvements." NATIONAL league tables have come under fire in recent years for being all about quantity and not quality.

But local hospital bosses say they do contain some valuable information.

According to Mrs Pamela McKee, director of contracts and business planning at Bury Health Care NHS Trust: "We do take them very seriously, even though they only monitor speed of treatment.

"The public want to know how long it will take for them to be treated and and the speed with which they are treated is an important quality in itself.

"I think patients have a right to some information and this is definitely an improvement to what we had before which was nothing.

"The tables are not a complete package but they are an indicator and we do take them seriously."

ZThe Government are planning a radical overhaul of performance league tables to include the success rate of operations.

Health Secretary Frank Dobson is engineering a move away from the emphasis on waiting lists which he believes does not reflect the quality of the service.

New categories proposed includes deaths in hospital within 30 days of surgery, emergency re-admissions to hospital within 28 days of previous discharge, wound infection in hospital following surgery, deaths in hospital within 30 days of emergency admission with a heart attack, and damage to organs following surgery.

STAR RATINGS (average in brackets)

Accident and Emergency, patients assessed within five minutes of arrival: 94 per cent (93) ****

Outpatient appointments, patients seen within 13 weeks of referral: 88 per cent (83) ***

Outpatient appointments, patients seen within 26 weeks of referral: 99 per cent (97) ****

Outpatient appointments, patients seen within 30 minutes of appointment time, 91 per cent (91) ****

Inpatient waiting times, patients admitted within three months: 87 per cent (72) *****

Inpatient waiting times, patients admitted within 12 months: 99 per cent (99) ****

Number of patients not admitted within a month of a cancelled operation: none (11) *****

Number of patients who missed their appointment: 12 per cent (11) ***

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