Boss warns hospitals set to be rated among worst

Prof Lesley Dwyer said there would not be an "instant turnaround" for the hospitals

The head of Norfolk's three main hospitals admitted she expected them to be ranked among the worst performing in the country.

Prof Lesley Dwyer – who is in charge of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, James Paget Hospital in Gorleston and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn – said they were not improving as much as they needed to.

She warned that "all three trusts will be in the bottom quarter" of a new government ratings table, "potentially with two of our trusts being towards the bottom of that".

She said the hospitals were being judged on areas including waiting lists, how long patients were in emergency departments and staff feedback.

It comes four months after Prof Dwyer took charge of the hospitals, which merged into the Norfolk and Waveney University Hospitals Group earlier this year.

At the time of the merger, the hospitals - all currently rated as "requires improvement" by the Care Quality Commission - were forecasting a £53m gap in their finances by 2029-30.

Up to 500 jobs are under threat at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital

Speaking to councillors at the Norfolk Health Overview Select Committee, she said staff were working "really hard".

But she conceded the hospitals were "not making the inroads that we should [on] those really important issues to our community, around waiting times for elective care, emergency care, cancer care".

Combined with their poor financial positions and staff survey results, she expected all three hospitals to receive poor ratings next week under the NHS Oversight Framework.

"We do know that all three trusts will be in the bottom quarter – and potentially with two of our trusts being towards the bottom of that. So in some ways, that only gives us one way to go."

Green city and county councillor, Ben Price, said that was "quite alarming" and asked why the hospitals had been "underachieving so starkly".

Great Yarmouth Labour councillor Jeanette McMullen – who praised "wonderful" staff at the James Paget Hospital - questioned how long it would be before patients would see "the benefits of the merger".

"Hearing we're likely to be in the bottom of the bottom is very alarming," said councillor Ben Price

Prof Dwyer said the hospitals were "making decisions" around corporate services to "really try and free up resources" for clinical care – an apparent reference to plans to cut hundreds of non-medical jobs.

Adding that the hospitals needed to "stabilise" their financial positions, she said patients would see improvements in the coming months.

But she admitted it was "not going to be an instant turnaround" and "sustaining meaningful change is not going to be fast".