A HEALTH watchdog leader in East Lancashire today blasted the NHS league tables as a "complete waste of public money."

And Nigel Robinson said performance charts could be having an adverse effect on patient care.

His fierce broadside comes on the day the tables revealed a big improvement by both the Blackburn and Burnley hospital trusts.

The chief officer of Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Community Health Council said the Government tables were putting unnecessary pressure on hospitals to meet a series of Patient's Charter targets.

He claimed this could be causing a slip in some health service standards.

He added that patients were simply not interested in the performance tables, which were an opportunity for trusts to "preen their feathers."

Mr Robinson said the public was only interested in receiving a high quality of care

He said: "The league tables are a waste of time and NHS resources. They do not delve into the deeper agenda of quality of care, although I have no reason to believe that local hospitals are not providing these standards."

The Government, which spends £500,000 a year on the league tables, insist they make NHS bosses account- able and give them an incentive to improve standards.

But Mr Robinson added: "The tables are a paper chase as the trusts are responsible for collating all this information."

Health Secretary Stephen Dorrell said the tables provided patients and NHS purchasers like GP fundholders the information needed to decide which hospitals to use.

He said the increasing number of high approval ratings shown by four and five stars proved that after three years the system was having an effect.

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