This is the first ever overall assessment of NHS hospital quality in
England, and aims to contribute to the ongoing debate about how best to
measure quality in the NHS. Findings include: many of the lowest
performing trusts on the quality index are subject to regulatory
intervention; Foundation Trust status is a good indicator of high
performance on the quality index; patient experience and waiting times
matter most to members of the public who responded to the poll; and that
condition-specific ratings are deemed more useful to patients than
general ratings when making informed decisions about their care.
