Website of the Department of Health

Alan Johnson welcomes health regulator's annual report

The Healthcare Commission today praised the NHS for making significant improvements in services across the board in recent years.

The Commission's annual State of Healthcare report highlights huge strides in cutting premature death rates for the big three killers over the past decade. Early deaths from heart disease have halved, while the death rates for stroke and cancer have fallen by 44% and 18% respectively.

The report found:

• 95% compliance with national health standards
• Big reductions in MRSA and C. difficile infection rates
• Dramatic drops in waiting times
• Consistently high levels of patient satisfaction.

It also highlights the scale of improvements in the NHS:

• The number of annual consultations in the health service has risen
  from 219 million to 300 million since 1998
• Attendances at A and E have risen from 14 million to 19 million since
  2002/03
• NHS Direct answered 4.9 million calls in 2007/08 and received more
  than 30 million visits to their website.

This is the Healthcare Commission's fifth and final report before the Care Quality Commission - a new single regulator for health and social care - starts work in April 2009.

• http://www.healthcarecommission.org.uk/ (opens new window)