WORTHING Hospital, having survived a health trust onslaught that could have seen it downgraded or closed, now has another fight on its hands: for its reputation.
New NHS ratings released show the hospital listed only as "fair" for quality of services and use of resources.
The figures also show that in a spot check carried out in the summer, the hospital failed to live-up to its own self-assessed standards in three core services.
The hospital says it is disappointed at the results and will be taking action.
It says the ratings do not reflect the hard work and achievements of the staff.
Other hospitalsThe ratings do not compare favourably to Worthing's "rivals" in the recent Fit For The Future debate.
St Richard's at Chichester, which ended-up in a head-to-head race with Worthing and Southlands for the title of major general hospital for West Sussex, was rated "good" on quality and "fair" on use of resources.
The Royal Sussex County Hospital at Brighton, which some feared would mop-up the prime healthcare resources for the region, posted "excellent" and "fair" results.
Worthing's double fair result was an improvement on the previous year, where its use of resources was branded as "weak".
Merger talksThe hospital trust is now in merger talks with St Richard's with the hope that BOTH hospitals will retain key services in emergency, surgical and maternity.
The expensive process which led to thousands of people campaigning to save their local hospital has officially been put "on hold".
Although the hospital put a brave face on the latest NHS findings, Worthing's "fair" ratings are viewed as a disappointment following a series of revelations about the hospital's finances.
In the last few weeks the Herald has revealed how:- Deputy chief executive Sue Barnett, employed through a consultancy firm and in charge of "performance", costs nearly £900 A DAY.
- By September, the hospital had overspent by £3.5million on budget, much of it on temporary staff.
- How two more executives, the interim director of strategy and a manager providing "operational support for medical and surgical directorates", were also costing the Worthing and Southlands Trust nearly £1,000 A DAY.
Fiance shake-upThe hospital's financial controller, David Dumigan, has been on sick leave for several weeks and has now been seconded to another trust.
In a statement, the hospital said Mr Dumigan had been seconded to work at Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust for a period of up to six months.
The hospital said Mrs Tracey Paton, deputy director of finance, is currently acting as finance director.
The three standards revealed as below par were for safety regulations, discrimination in staff matters and patient consent.
Hospital's viewOn the double "fair" rating, hospital spokeswoman Pam Lelliott said: "The findings show that patients are continuing to receive a high level of service at Worthing and Southlands hospitals."
She added: "We are meeting all the existing national targets and received an 'excellent' rating for meeting the new targets for quality established this year.
"We are disappointed that our overall ratings do not reflect the enormous achievement of our staff.
"We will be looking closely at what action we need to take to improve even further next year."
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