NHS star ratings slammed

The surveys questioned patients on their experience in hospitals

The NHS star ratings system has been slammed by the Liberal Democrats.

They claim the ratings are purely a political exercise and do not provide an accurate picture of how NHS trusts are performing.

They point to a survey of patients by the Commission for Health Improvement.

They said it shows that patients do not think they receive substantially worse care in zero star trusts compared to those with the top rating of three stars.

Thousands surveyed

The CHI survey questioned over 270,000 patients about their experience at NHS trusts.

Patients waiting for outpatient appointments and treatment in A&E were among those questioned.

When you ask hundreds of patients in each trust, they cannot spot the difference Dr Evan Harris, Liberal Democrats

According to the Lib Dems, zero star trusts received an average score of 79 out of 100 from patients while three stars scored 81.

Some of the top-rated trusts, including City Hospitals Sunderland, Moorfields Eye Hospital and the Oxford Nuffield Orthopaedic Hospital, did particularly badly.

They were rated in the bottom 20% by patients on outpatient lists.

The survey also raised fresh doubts over government claims most trusts are meeting its A&E target - to deal with patients within four hours.

Some hospitals which claim to be meeting the target performed particularly poorly.

In Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Trust only 44% of patients reported having been dealt with in four hours - less than half that claimed by the trust.

There was a similar picture at Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, Luton and Dunstable Hospital, St Mary's Hospital and Lewisham Hospital.

Ratings slammed

Lib Dem health spokesman Dr Evan Harris said the survey showed the star ratings were a sham.

He said the survey showed patients could not tell the difference between zero star trusts and three star trust.

This, he suggested, showed the ratings were not measuring the right things.

He said ratings should be more concerned with clinical outcomes rather than politically-motivated targets.

"When you ask hundreds of patients in each trust, they cannot spot the difference," he told the BBC.

"People do not do worse in these zero star trusts clinically," he said.

"The experience of patients, which the government uses to defend these nonsense star ratings, shows there is no difference. It's a political exercise."

He added: "Patient experience by over a quarter of million surveys shows the star rating system does not measure hospital performance."

However, Labour MP Siobhan McDonagh defended the ratings. She represents the constituency of Mitcham and Morden.

The local hospital, St Helier's NHS Trust, received a zero star rating in the first NHS review in 2000. In 2002, it was upgraded to two stars but fell back to one star this year.

"People in my constituency think the star rating system is great.

"Our local hospital St Helier got no stars in the first review and for once somebody listened to the fact that local people were not happy with their hospital.

"We got a new chief executive and that hospital is substantially turning around so we say good luck to the star ratings system."

"People have a right to know how their hospital is doing."