SDH retains two-star performance rating

The trust, which runs Salisbury District Hospital, performed well and hit all key targets in the 2003 review.

All NHS trusts were assessed over a range of indicators to give an overall star rating of 0 to 3.

This year, the Commission for Health Improvement, which is independent of the department of health, has taken over responsibility for publishing and developing the ratings, and has expanded the number of indicators to cover the main priority areas in the NHS.

There are 45 indicators for acute hospital trusts, broken up into four categories. These focus on the following areas:

Key targets. These include inpatient and outpatient waiting-list targets, waiting times for patients suspected of having cancer, waiting times in A&E, hospital cleanliness and financial management;

Clinical focus. This includes emergency readmission rates, survival rates and infection control measures;

Patient focus. This includes results of patient surveys, inpatient and outpatient waiting times and day-surgery bookings;

Capacity and capability: This includes the results of staff opinion surveys and sickness absence rates.

Salisbury Health Care chief executive Frank Harsent said: "This round of star ratings highlights very good performance in the majority of areas, especially in the key targets category, where we achieved the standard in all nine indicators.

"This is particularly important because there is a strong focus on some of the issues that mean a lot to our patients, such as inpatient, accident and emergency and outpatient waiting times.

"Hospital cleanliness comes within this category, as does financial management, where we achieved break-even for the year.

"Overall, we also came within the top bands for both clinical and patient focus.

"This is again important, as breast cancer treatment and the results of our patient surveys all fall within one of these categories - highlighting good quality care at Salisbury District Hospital."