Good news for the South Tees Trust

TRUST IS NAMED ACUTE HEALTHCARE ORGANISATION OF THE YEAR

STAFF at South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust are today celebrating the ‘icing on the cake’ to an incredible year after being named as the country’s acute healthcare organisation of 2007.

The

James Cook University Hospital and

Friarage Hospital received the national accolade at the HSJ (Health Service Journal) Awards in

London last night (Monday), where more than 1,100 people gathered to celebrate innovations in healthcare.

The trust, which was visited by a judging team in October, was one of five finalists in an extremely strong short-listed field which included four Foundation Trusts and attracted a record number of entries.

Chief executive Simon Pleydell said: “It has been an incredible year for us and I’m absolutely delighted for each and every one of our staff on both sites who have put in the sheer hard work and effort to achieve this national recognition. I really am proud of them – this is their award.

“Awards such as these give staff a real confidence boost, particularly as we have been through some very challenging times, and also give patients and public a firm assurance about how well we are doing in terms of the all-round quality of care we provide.

“It also builds on the recognition we already achieved this year by being named as the top performing trust in the country in the Dr Foster Good Hospital Guide and receiving an ‘excellent’ rating for quality of services in the Healthcare Commission’s Annual Performance Ratings.

“Of course, the NHS never stands still and while this is great news we do - and will - continue to face problems and difficulties ahead but I’m confident we can meet these challenges to further improve the quality of care we provide for the population we serve.”

Trust chair Glenys Marriott added: “This is a fantastic acknowledgement of the dedication, professionalism, skill, attitude and sheer hard work of all our staff – after a great year this is the icing of the cake for us.”

Judges of the ‘acute healthcare organisation of the year’ category, which was sponsored by leading benchmarking company CHKS, included Dr Paul Robinson, head of marked intelligence CHKS, Mike Farrar, chief executive of NHS North West and Matthew Swindells, the Department of Health’s director general, information and programme integration.

Comments included: “Inspirational leadership was on display time and time again – not just from the senior management but through the organisations we visited. There was a genuine commitment to wanting to provide the best service possible to patients and improving services.

“That so much of what South Tees has accomplished in the past two years should be replicable across other organisations is perhaps one of its most remarkable and enduring achievements.’