Exeter hospital outperforms Plymouth's

Derriford getting extra support

The trust which runs Derriford Hospital has been ranked near the bottom in new NHS league tables evaluating performance in key areas of patient care.

The University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust came 109th out of 134 in the NHS England’s Acute Trust League Tables.

This puts it in the lowest of the four segments indicating that it faces “significant challenges”.

Deputy chief executive of the trust Sarah Brampton said it was “disappointing” but the hospital was heading in the right direction to improve.

At an NHS board meeting on Wednesday she said the rankings were really important as they tell the public how Derriford Hospital is doing.

Trusts are ranked on seven different areas including access to care, effectiveness and experience of care, finance and productivity, patient safety, people and workforce.

“It’s disappointing to be in segment four but we are focused on making sure we get out of the two lowest segments,” she said. “We are on the right trajectory but have a huge amount of work to do.”

These aggregated metric rankings (AMR) form part of the NHS Oversight Framework 2025/26 which aims to improve accountability and support across the health system.

More challenged trusts like Plymouth will be offered support or receive interventions.

In her report to the board Ms Brampton said: “Our current position in the national NHS league tables reflects the ongoing journey of improvement we are undertaking to enhance the services we provide to our population.

“While our dedicated teams have already delivered significant progress, we recognise that further work is needed to achieve our ambition of being ranked among the top hospital trusts in the country.

“We are actively delivering against a clear plan to become a high-quality organisation that consistently provides excellent care. This progress is evident in our ‘outstanding for caring’ rating from the Care Quality Commission and in the tangible improvements driven by colleagues across the trust.

“Our focus remains firmly on delivering for our patients and fostering a positive organisational culture, making University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust a truly great place to work. We are achieving this by empowering clinically led teams and supporting an open environment where staff feel confident to speak up and raise concerns.”

Hospitals are assessed for performance across urgent and emergency care, elective services, diagnostics, cancer treatment and other services.

NHS England says this is the first time this level of information has been published in a single place and it can be used alongside other information to support people to make more informed choices about their care.

It also provides transparency and accountability across the health system, ensuring everyone can understand how NHS England makes decisions about performance management, support and intervention.

“We will continue to refine this approach over time and welcome feedback to ensure it remains useful and transparent,” it said.

The University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust is also responsible for Mount Gould Hospital, South Hams Community Hospital,  Tavistock Hospital and the Cumberland Centre in Devonport as well as other health facilities.

The Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, which run Cornwall’s one acute hospital at Treliske as well as a surgical hub and community hospitals, was placed 18th in the list and Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which operates the acute Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and North Devon District Hospital and community hospitals at  54.

South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust came 9th out of 10 in the Ambulance Trust League Table.