Propped up Raac King’s Lynn hospital rated worst in country

A hospital which has its ceilings held up by thousands of props has been rated the worst performing in the country.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, came bottom of the league table of 134 acute hospital trusts in England.

QEH’s interim executive managing director Chris Bown said he was sorry it had “fallen short”, and added “immediate steps are being taken to address the issues”.

Elsewhere in the East of England, the specialist Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge was ranked fifth in the league table, while East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, which has hospitals in Stevenage, Hertford and Welwyn, was 19th.

This is the first time league tables rating the performance of NHS trusts in England have been published, with specialist hospitals – such as Royal Papworth – taking the top slots.

The public will be able to check out the performance of their local hospital, ambulance service or mental health trust.

The trusts are judged on areas including waiting lists, how long patients were in emergency departments and staff feedback.

They are ranked every three months and placed in four categories, with the top performers given more power over how they spend their money and those lower down encouraged to learn from the best trusts and receive support from national officials.

Wes Streeting, Health and Social Care Secretary, said the tables identified where “urgent support” was needed.

He said: “Patients know when local services aren’t up to scratch and they want to see an end to the postcode lottery.”

Mr Bown said measures already in place at QEH included steps to reduce long emergency department wait times by recruiting more specialist consultants, plans to create an urgent treatment centre in 2026 and tackling delays of cancer and diagnostic waits.

As a hospital which has crumbling reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac), QEH has been prioritised for a rebuild by the national New Hospital Programme, which will see a new hospital built on the current site’s car park.

It has also been partnered with the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital, which was ranked 111th out of 134 trusts, and the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston in Norfolk, ranked 129th, to form the Norfolk and Waveney University Hospitals Group.

The group’s chief executive, Prof Lesley Dwyer, who warned on Sunday they were not improving as much as they needed to, said: “Though not happy with where we are now, we are also united and ambitious in our determination to do more.”

She added its priorities were urgent and emergency care, cancer, frailty, stroke and maternity services.

Other East of England NHS trust rankings included:

• Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Basildon, Broomfield and Southend’s emergency hospitals, was rated 123rd out of 134 acute hospitals trusts
• The North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, including Peterborough City Hospital, Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon and Stamford & Rutland Hospital, was rated 105th of 134 acute hospitals trusts
• Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie maternity hospital, was rated 70th out of 134 acute hospitals trusts
• Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust was rated 96th of 134 acute hospitals
• The Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), which provides mental health services, was rated 57th out of 61 non-acute hospital trusts
• The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust rated the worst-performing ambulance service out of 10

Neill Moloney, chief executive of the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said the assessment reflected “the ongoing challenges we face — particularly around Category 2 response times and tackling long-standing cultural issues within the trust”.

But he also added: “Over the past year, we’ve made real progress, driving down response times across the region and improving patient care.”

NSFT chief executive Caroline Donovan said her trust had already made significant improvements in crisis and adult community services and had seen waiting times “significantly reduced”.

“However, we are not complacent and know that there is still much work to do to transform our services to ensure we deliver safe, kinder and better care,” she added.