Read full article:  Alzheimer’s Society

Bottom of the ‘league table’ were East of England Ambulance Service trust, Brent teaching primary care trust, Great Yarmouth and Waveney PCT, North Yorkshire and York PCT, Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital trust and Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare trust.

Read full article: Health Service Journal

The West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust was rated 93 out of 100 in for the quality of care provided to category C non-urgent patients by independent regulator the Care Quality Commission.

Read full article: Berrows Journal.

All 388 NHS Trusts were assessed by the CQC and while all were registered, 21 trusts only made it the list subject to improving standards within agreed timescales.

Among the criteria examined was how trusts dealt with legionella and MRSA, which can grow in or spread through hvac systems.

This is the first step towards full registration on all basic standards for healthcare trusts, a regime that will come into force from April 2010.

Public health consultant David Harper welcomed the report but said the delay in implementing the new tougher regime was not ideal.

“April 2010 is too late, we want this introduced now. I don’t want to sound dramatic but lives are literally at stake.”

Mr Harper urged the hvac industry to play a key role in keeping hospitals free from infection, both in terms of developing products and providing expertise in their installation.

The full list of 21 NHS Trusts which must take remedial action is published on the H&V News website.

In 13 of the 21 cases, the trust declared non-compliance with registration criteria that CQC used for judgement. In eight cases, the CQC had evidence that the trust had failed to achieve required standards for infection control on repeated occasions, had a high infection rate and/or the Healthcare Commission identified substantial issues that represented a potential risk to patients’ safety at an inspection last year.

Ten acute trusts, six primary care trusts, four mental health care trusts and one ambulance trust were registered with conditions. Four of these are foundation trusts. Some conditions are ongoing, such as keeping wards clean, while others have a deadline for taking action (ranging from one to eight months).

The CQC has said it will pay particular attention to monitoring and inspecting non-acute services. Until now, hygiene inspections have targeted predominantly the acute sector, where most infections tend to occur.

Read full article: H&V News.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust was among 21 of 388 trusts nationwide given a warning by health watchdog the Care Quality Commission after failing to make the grade.

All trusts have to meet certain standards to be allowed to register with the commission. These conditions are legally enforceable and failure to act means trusts could be issued with warning notices and fines, or face prosecution or closure.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service was the only ambulance trust in the country not to meet its cleanliness requirements fully.

Examples of expected improvements include ensuring the decontamination of surgical equipment is up to scratch and developing tighter policies to tackle infections like MRSA, Clostridium difficile and legionella, which causes legionnaires’ disease.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service has been given a deadline of June 30 to make improvement to allow the service full, unconditional registration with the commission.

Read full article: Filey Mercury.