Daisy Hill has been named as one of the 40 best NHS hospitals currently operating. The 40 Top Hospitals Awards are a prestigious event held every year by healthcare intelligence company CHKS. The awards are the only purely data-driven healthcare awards for NHS hospitals and as a result carry an unrivalled credibility. Recognising and rewarding 40 of the best performing acute trusts, the awards are based on the evaluation of 22 indicators covering safety, clinical effectiveness, health outcomes, efficiency, patient experience and quality of care. Reacting to news of the award Debbie Burns Interim Director of Acute Services for the Southern Health and Social Care Trust said it reflected on the excellent work the hospital’s staff were doing. “Staff working in our hospitals perform to a very high standard every day and its fantastic to have this fact confirmed by the award,” she said. “We will continue to focus on delivering high quality care for our patient. Each year in our hospital network there are approximately 370,000 outpatient appointments, 117,000 Emergency Department attendances, 30,000 day cases, 56,000 inpatient admissions and over 6,000 births. A you can see we are an extremely busy network but this award shows our staff are more than capable of dealing with any and all problems.” Congratulating staff on receiving the award Southern Trust Chief Executive Mairead McAlinden said it was a victory for the entire area served by Daisy Hill. “The CHKS awards programme provides reassurance to patients, carers and staff that their hospital is among the highest performing ion terms of both clinical excellence and efficiency,” she said. “I am delighted that our staff have received this recognition for their dedication to delivering safe and effective patient care. Health and social care is a challenging environment to work in. We are continually looking for ways to Improve and develop services to cope with increasing demand all within the current financial constraints. Despite these challenges our staff as this award demonstrates continue to provide excellent care for thousands of patients each year. Every member of staff working in our hospitals from clinical, management and support services has played an important role in achieving the award and everyone should take pride in this honour.”
Newry Democrat
14 May 2013
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