Trust chosen for assessment of health services

8th July 2002

The West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust looks forward to the review of its services by the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI).

Chief Executive John Parkes says he welcomes the CHI review.

“Every Trust will be visited by a CHI team on a regular basis, and the interesting aspect is that the review team consists of both NHS staff,  who work in other areas of the country, and a member of the general public.

The purpose of the visit is to review the systems and processes that we have in place to deliver good patient care.  It is a review rather than an inspection and the CHI team will also want to identify areas of good practice and ideas that can be shared with other hospitals.  In this way Trusts nationwide can improve by adopting best practice.”

As part of the CHI review patients, carers and members of the public, as well as professionals who deal with the trust can discuss their experiences with CHI at private meetings to be held in:

Bury St Edmunds:    Tuesday, 23 and Wednesday 24 July

Sudbury:                 Thursday 25 July

“I hope that people will take part in the review process.” said John Parkes. “Not just those who have criticisms of our services but also the very many people who have had positive and helpful experiences and want others to hear about them.”

To arrange an appointment for an individual or small group meeting, to send comments or for more information, phone CHI on 0845 601 3012 (charged at local rate), quoting West Suffolk. All information will be treated anonymously and in the strictest confidence.

John Parkes concluded:

“From my point of view there is no such thing as a bad CHI review because we are committed to improving services and at the end of the review a development plan has to be organised.”