Hospitals improve in health check

The care received by hospital patients in Suffolk is improving, the Healthcare Commission has found.

West Suffolk Hospital and Ipswich Hospital both improved their ratings in the third Annual Health Check survey.

West Suffolk Hospital maintained an "excellent" rating for its quality of services and improved to "fair" in its use of resources.

Ipswich Hospital was rated "good" for quality of services and "fair" for the way it used its resources.

'Great news'

The services measured included patient access, safety and the way the services were run.

Chris Bown, West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust chief executive, said staff were "absolutely delighted" with the ratings.

Mr Bown said: "This rating puts us among the top 26% of performers nationally, which is great news for our patients as it shows they are receiving some of the best healthcare in the country."

Andrew Reed, Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust chief executive, said: "I am very pleased that this year's ratings for the hospital...reflect the real progress we are making."

Meanwhile, Suffolk Mental Health Partnership was rated good for both its quality of services and its use of resources.