Five London hospitals rated worst in country

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London hospital patients face some of the worst healthcare standards in the country.

Five hospitals in the capital come bottom of the league for hygiene, privacy, food quality and overall care.

Ealing is ranked the lowest out of a total of 165 NHS hospital trusts, followed by Homerton, Mayday, Barking and North Middlesex.

The findings, published today by watchdog the Healthcare Commission, are based on the views of nearly 76,000 adult patients staying overnight in English hospitals. The greatest variations in care involved mixed-sex wards, waiting times and the standard of food.

Fewer than half of patients said bathrooms and lavatories were clean and fewer people than last year believed doctors and nurses always washed their hands between patients. Around a quarter of people reported being put on mixed-sex wards when admitted.

Ealing Hospital patients complained of a lack of nurses on duty, poor response rates to call buzzers and unsatisfactory food. They said there was too much noise from other patients on wards and claimed they were not given copies of medical letters from their GPs to hospital doctors. The majority of patients rated the hospital as only "fairly" clean. Commission chief executive Anna Walker said that nationally, increasing numbers of patients said care was "excellent", especially when it came to food and waiting times. But some hospitals were struggling to deliver on the basics of care. "There are striking variations in performance in key areas such as providing single-sex accommodation and giving people help when they need it. The patient voice must be heard loudly on the boards of trusts," she said.

The Patients Association pointed to Health Secretary Alan Johnson's revised promise last month to end "mixed-sex accommodation" in hospitals, rather than "mixed-sex wards" as pledged in Labour's manifesto at the last election.

Vice-chairman Michael Summers said: "We're really disappointed the Government is no longer committed to doing away with mixed-sex wards. We have also campaigned for better hospital hygiene."

Ealing Hospital NHS Trust admitted its results were "disappointing" but promised change, saying it was now putting hand-washing gel by every bed.

Trust chief executive Julie Lowe said: "The changes we're implementing will improve the way we provide services to patients and make them feel part of the decision-making process."

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