Meeting public expectations

Unlike the latter, where concerns persist about above-average mortality rates, the reverse is true at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust where death-rates are below the national average. Instead, its outstanding issues appear to revolve around poor staff morale, and a shortage of doctors who are available to work in A&E.

Both are critically important. Not only is Leeds the largest trust in the North but the LGI and St James’s are also widely-respected teaching hospitals that play a pivotal role in training of the next generation of medical staff.

The question now is the ability of hospital managers to use the CQC findings to improve care at those hospitals where shortcomings were identified – Hull is guilty of under-reporting patient safety incidents for example – or maintaining standards at the six NHS trusts serving Yorkshire which fared best of all in the country.

Even though a succession of scandals have prompted concerns about the effectiveness of the National Health Service’s regulators, this level of detail – hospitals were judged against 150 performance indicators – is critical to restoring public confidence.

Yet the size of the task facing former Labour health adviser Simon Stevens, the newly-appointed chief executive of NHS England, is still an immense one. There are still wide disparities in care between neighbouring trusts and there is an expectation that every hospital will have to do “more for less”.

They are challenges that will become even greater unless NHS trusts act on this latest reform prescription, and ensure even more patients receive the best possible care from the outset of their treatment. If they do, the burden facing some hospitals will lessen.

Learning legacy

BY reinforcing the importance of teachers as role models, Jonny Mitchell – and his entire team at Thornhill Community Academy in Dewsbury – have become Yorkshire’s unexpected heroes of 2013.

They could not have foreseen the scale of the public following, and support, that would arise from Channel Four’s fly-on-the-wall documentary Educating Yorkshire which concluded last night.

This programme has provided a far greater insight into the teaching profession, and the sacrifices made by staff, than any speech by a pontificating politician – or union leader.

Its success can be measured by the sheer number of people who now have a better understanding of the daily challenges faced by schools across Yorkshire – Thornhill is emblematic of many – and the need to maintain the morale of teachers in the face of constant criticism over this region’s position in the Government’s education league tables.

If this leads to more thoughtful policy-making in future, with Education Secretary Michael Gove actually prepared to consider his changes from the perspective of inspiring individuals like Mr Mitchell, then pupils across Britain can benefit from Thornhill’s enlightened experience.

Of course, some viewers were uncomfortable at the sheer amount of one-to-one attention afforded to troublesome pupils who showed little aptitude for learning at the outset. Yet Mr Mitchell’s response was telling – he would have spent even more time with these challenging children if the resources permitted. The reason? Who else will be prepared to invest in the futures of border-line delinquents if they’re permanently excluded because of their behavioural issues?

The consequence is this school is going to extraordinary lengths to ensure that today’s teenagers do not become tomorrow’s criminals and, instead, make an invaluable contribution to society and the economy. As such, the dedication of Thornhill’s teachers, and their colleagues at other schools battling against such odds, deserve the respect, praise and admiration of all.

Going for growth

DAVID Cameron’s decision to travel to the latest EU summit via Barnsley is indicative of his genuine desire for the whole country to benefit from Britain’s economic recovery.

Even though this former mining community remains a Labour stronghold, Barnsley is a traditional town which is pivotal to Mr Cameron’s economic reforms. If it can attract further investment from private sector firms like Asos, residents will be less dependent on the welfare system’s benevolence.

Yet the fact that this factory visit was overshadowed by the continuing furore over energy bills illustrated the scale of the public’s unease about rises in the cost of living, even more so on the day that Scottish Power became the fourth of the “Big Six” to dramatically raise its prices.

Barnsley will inevitably elude the Tories at the next election, but its future prospects will be a barometer to the success of Mr Cameron’s aspiration agenda, including areas once neglected by the Tories.