Hospital is silver star (From Penarth Times)

Hospital is silver star

LLANDOUGH Hospital has been ranked as one of the top NHS hospitals in Wales to care for people aged 50 and over, according to new research. The hospital is only one of five hospitals in the UK deemed to provide "excellent" treatment to patients over 50 years of age, according to research commissioned by Saga for its Good Hospital Guide.

Peter Welsh, spokesman for Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust, said: "The Saga Good Hospital Guide has praised Llandough Hospital's quality of care for over-50s. The guide looked at the ratio of doctors and nurses to the number of beds, its multi-disciplinary care for cancer patients and speedy care to give heart attack patients clot-busting drugs soon after they arrive in hospital. We are delighted that these areas have been recognised, which is also a tribute to the efforts of the staff at Llandough Hospital."

The areas in which Llandough Hospital performed well were good ratio of doctors and nurses to beds; multi-disciplinary team for cancers; 51.9 per cent of appropriate heart attack patients receive thrombolysis (clot-busting drug) within 20 minutes.

Michael Cutbill, director of Saga, said: "Saga's new survey gives insight into how hospitals rate in the areas that are particularly important to people aged 50 and over.

"By highlighting the top performers we hope to help people as they choose how and where they are treated. People aged 50 and over are savvy consumers and a growing number will want to exercise their new health care rights which give them more choice in how and where they are treated."

Llandough Hospital, Singleton Hospital (Swansea), Withybush General Hospital (Haverford- west), Wrexham Maelor Hospital (Wrexham) and Ysbyty Gwynedd (Bangor) all gained four credits out of a possible eight credits in the Saga Good Hospital Guide.