EIGHT out of 10 NHS hospitals are failing to perform to standard, an official league table reveals.
A new scoring system has been published by the Government today so patients can see how their local hospital fares against the rest of country.
The damning rankings show just 27 out of 134 of major hospitals make it into the best-performing tier one or two.
The remaining 107 fall into tier three or four, meaning they are the “most challenged” and offering poor care or failing to balance the books.
Just 16 hospitals are in tier one serving as good examples for the rest.
Under NHS rules, patients have the right to be treated at another hospital if theirs is bad.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting ordered the public league tables to expose failing health bosses and said: “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
NHS chiefs hit back and called the system simplistic and demoralising.
Mr Streeting said: “We must be honest about the state of the NHS to fix it.
“Patients know when local services aren’t up to scratch and they want to see an end to the postcode lottery – that’s what this government is doing.
“These league tables will identify where urgent support is needed and allow high-performing areas to share best practices with others.”
The rankings show eight out of the 10 best performers are specialists like Moorfields Eye Hospital in London.
The best performing general hospital was the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust, the former employer of current NHS England CEO, Sir Jim Mackey.
The worst performer was the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, Norfolk.
Second from bottom was the Countess of Chester Hospital, where killer nurse Lucy Letby worked.
The Countess of Chester Hospital, where convicted baby killer Lucy Letby worked, is ranked second worst in England[/caption]
NHS trusts are given an overall score including factors such as their A&E waiting times, surgery backlogs and financial performance.
Any organisation that blows its budget is relegated to tier three or four regardless of medical performance.
Separate tables also rate mental health hospitals and ambulance services, and will next year expand to entire local health boards.
They will be shown on a public dashboard on the Department of Health’s website from today.
NHS chief Sir Jim Mackey said: “NHS staff across the country work flat out to deliver the highest standard of care to their patients but we still have too much unwarranted local variation in performance.
“Letting patients and the public access more data will help to drive improvement even faster.”
NHS Providers, which represents hospital bosses, warned the league table could damage patient confidence and demoralise staff.
CEO Daniel Elkeles said: “There’s more work to do before patients, staff and NHS trusts can have confidence that these league tables are accurately identifying the best performing organisations.”
Chris Bown, managing director at the bottom-ranked Queen Elizabeth Hospital, said: “Our patients deserve the highest standards of care, and we are sorry that in some of our performance areas we have fallen short. Immediate steps are being taken to address the issues.”
TIMELINE OF THE NHS WAITING LIST
THE NHS waiting list in England has become a political flashpoint as it has ballooned in recent years, more than doubling in a decade.
The statistics for England count the number of procedures, such as operations and non-surgical treatments, that are due to patients.
The procedures are known as elective treatment because they are planned and not emergencies. Many are routine ops such as for hip or knee replacements, cataracts or kidney stones, but the numbers also include some cancer treatments.
This is how the wait list has changed over time:
August 2007: 4.19million – The first entry in current records.
December 2009: 2.32million – The smallest waiting list on modern record.
April 2013: 2.75million – The Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition restructures the NHS. Current chancellor Jeremy Hunt was Health Secretary.
April 2016: 3.79million – Junior doctors go on strike for the first time in 40 years. Theresa May is elected Prime Minister.
February 2020: 4.57million – The final month before the UK’s first Covid lockdown in March 2020.
July 2021: 5.61million – The end of all legal Covid restrictions in the UK.
January 2023: 7.21million – New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledges to reduce waiting lists within a year, effectively April 2024.
September 2023: 7.77million – The highest figure on record comes during a year hit with strikes by junior doctors, consultants, nurses and ambulance workers.
February 2024: 7.54million – Ministers admit the pledge to cut the backlog has failed.
August 2024: 7.64million – List continues to rise under Keir Starmer’s new Labour Government.
September 2024: 7.57million – A one per cent decline is the first fall since February and a glimmer of hope.
December 2024: 7.46million – The list has fallen for four consecutive months.
January 2025: 7.43m – Still falling but slowly, likely due to added strain on emergency services and more cancellations due to illness over winter.
May 2025: 7.36m – The lowest for two years, since 7.33m in March 2023.
June 2025: 7.37m – Increased again, but only by about 10,000. Health bosses played it down and said it increases every June.