Continued Improvement Highlights Scandal of Attempts to Downgrade Bedford Hospital and Cut Key Services

Mayor Dave Hodgson has welcomed the news that Bedford Hospital has had its overall grading increased by the Care Quality Commission under its latest quality and risk review, which was published today. The move into 'Band 5' places Bedford among the best performing hospitals in the country.

Mayor Dave has highlighted how confirmation of the continuing improvement at further emphasises the scandal of attempts to downgrade the hospital and force local patients to travel further for vital hospital services.

Commenting, Mayor Dave said: "This is really encouraging news for patients and confirms the progress being made at BedfordHospital, which is a vital ongoing process.'

"The CQC's view of Bedford as among the best performing hospitals in the country highlights the absurdity of the fact that all services have been placed under question through the current review. It also emphasises the scandal of the crude attempt to downgrade our hospital and cut key services permanently via the recent, discredited 'Healthier Together' programme."

The banding by the CQC is based on a risk score which places hospital Trusts in England in bands one to six, with one and two being the highest risk and five and six the lowest risk, based on a wide range of crucial quality measures such as mortality and infection rates and staff and patient survey results.