NATIONAL Health Service trusts in Worcestershire and Herefordshire have received mixed ratings for their standards of quality and financial management.

The Care Quality Commission today published the results of their rigorous assessment of all 392 NHS trusts in the country.

The overall quality score, with ratings ranging from excellent to weak, gives a detailed picture of how the trusts are making progress on issues such as infection control, waiting times and access to services. They are also assessed for their financial management – a particularly key area coming into a period of restrained public spending.

Worcestershire Mental Health Partnership Trust went from an ‘excellent’ quality score in 2007/08 to a ‘weak’ rating for 2008/09.

Dr Ros Keeton, chief executive of the trust said the score was pulled down by a failure to meet two national targets - ‘access to crisis resolution and home treatment’ and ‘care programme approach seven day follow-up’. Dr Keeton said these targets are now being met. NHS Worcestershire, which monitors the performance and allocates funding for the Mental Health Partnership Trust, said it was concerned about the drop.

Paul Bates, chief executive of NHS Worcestershire, said: “While this is a concern to both the trust and ourselves, we know that in this current year, measures have been taken to improve the performance rating and we expect this to be reflected in the next year.”

NHS Worcestershire itself, formerly Worcestershire PCT, maintained a ‘fair’ rating for quality from the previous year and improved from ‘fair’ to ‘good’ for financial management.

Mr Bates added: “The ratings show we are ‘fully compliant’ in complying with the Department of Health’s core standards, we ‘almost met’ our existing commitments and we are ‘fair’ in terms of how we are performing against national priorities such as reducing health inequalities and improving the health of the population.”

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the main hospitals in Worcester, Kidderminster and Redditch, was given a ‘fair’ rating for quality, a drop from ‘good’ the previous year and improved from ‘fair’ to ‘good’ for financial management.

West Midlands Ambulance Service Trust dropped from an ‘excellent’ quality score in 2007/08 to a ‘fair’ rating this year but improved its financial management score from ‘fair’ to ‘good’.

A spokesman said this year’s assessment had added in a number of new areas in the quality of service section making it difficult to compare with previous years.

Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust maintained a ‘good’ quality score and a ‘fair’ financial management score from the previous year.