Hospital trust rated among worst in England

UHCW NHS trust has been ranked 132 out of the 134 acute trusts in England

An NHS hospital trust has been rated as the third worst performing in England in new league tables.

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) trust comes in at 132 out of the 134 acute or emergency NHS Trusts in England, according to figures from NHS England.

The government rankings, published for the first time, rate the performance of NHS trusts on measures such as waiting times and finances.

Prof Andy Hardy, UHCW CEO, said he was "disappointed" with the ranking and the trust was looking at the metrics to see where they could make "positive changes" for patients.

South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust, which operates Warwick Hospital, was ranked as the 25th best within acute trusts, with Nuneaton's George Eliot ranked at 121st place.

Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust, which is responsible for mental health treatment, was rated at 51 in the non-acute trust league table.

Of UHCW's ranking, Prof Hardy said: "We are disappointed by our position in the national oversight table and we are looking at all the metrics to see where we can use our improvement methodology (UHCWi) to make positive changes for our patients," he said.

"Through the efforts of our staff, we have already seen improvements in some key areas.

"We continue to strive to provide high levels of service for our patients as evidenced by our recent CQC inspection, which rated both our hospitals, University Hospital Coventry and the Hospital of St Cross, Rugby, as 'Good' for patient care and safety."

The trust was scored on areas including waiting times and emergency care

The league tables can be used to check the performance of local hospitals, ambulance services or mental health trusts.

NHS trusts in England have been scored on seven different areas including patient waiting times, cancer treatment, urgent and emergency care and ambulance response times.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the tables would inform the public and "help me hold to account the performance of NHS leaders across the country," but trusts have questioned whether the right metrics are being used.