BBC News Online: Health

Mixed figures on NHS progress

Some areas appear to have improved

However, other indicators show that parts of the health service appear to have got worse since last year.

However, Health Secretary Alan Milburn concedes that much more work is needed to bring the service to an acceptable quality.

It is the first time that year-on-year comparisons have been made in the NHS.

Statistics covering the performance of individual hospitals and health authorities will be released later this month.

The figures come only days after the major political row surrounding the treatment of 94-year-old Rose Addis at an A&E unit in north London.

Improvements highlighted by the government include:

• A 5% drop in deaths after emergency surgery - a 4.4% drop in deaths after planned surgery
• A 10.5% increase in heart operations, and a 6.4% increase in hip and knee operations
• Death rates from cancer are down 2.1% and from heart disease down 5.2%
• Five year cancer survival rates rising

However, things have got worse in other key areas:

• 4.8% more emergency readmissions to hospital after fractured hip treatment
• 8% fewer complaints were resolved locally within four weeks
• 21.6% increase in vacancy rates for "allied health professionals", such as physiotherapists and speech therapists
• 8.6% increase in vacancy rates for hospital consultants
• 1% increase in suicide rates - equivalent to 200 extra deaths

However, Mr Milburn said: "These figures show that while there are many problems facing the NHS, progress is underway.

"There are welcome improvements in particular on cancer survival rates and a welcome decline in the number of deaths following surgery."

However, Conservative shadow health secretary Liam Fox said: "We naturally welcome these improvements. It is vital to minimise the suffering which patients endure while waiting for operations. "But it is ridiculous for Alan Milburn to suggest that everything in the garden is now rosy. "In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Labour health policy is in complete disarray."

The 64 indicators published today represent the wide scope of the reforms highlighted in the NHS Plan.

The local hospital and health authority indicators are likely to contain, in some cases, wider year-by-year changes.