Patients give local NHS Trust low marks in national survey
Patients have given West Herts Trust a series of poor ratings in a national ranking
The Trust performs well below average in a Care Quality Commission survey of English Trusts based on inpatient responses
It is one of eight trusts that are performing ‘somewhat worse than expected’ on key patient care issues.
West Herts rated ‘worse than expected’ on patients:
- Feeling that they waited the right amount of time on the waiting list before being admitted
- Getting information while waiting to be admitted
- Having their questions answered by doctors and nurses in a way they could understand
- Being involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment
- Feeling able to talk to staff about any worries and fears, if needed
- Believing that hospital staff took into account their individual language needs, such as translations, braille, or interpreters
- Being able to discuss with hospital staff if any equipment or home adaptations were needed when leaving hospital
The survey is NOT bad news for the NHS as a whole – the CQC says the results ‘show statistically significant improvement across multiple areas of care for a second consecutive year.’
But West Herts is lagging behind other NHS Trusts on these important scores
West Herts was ‘Trust of the Year’ in 2025 and is admired by Ministers and some other politicians for hitting official targets
But our local NHS Trust is failing to impress the people that REALLY matter – patients.