The Countess of Chester Hospital Trust has been ranked the second worst in the country, as part of a new league table rating the performance of NHS trusts in England.

NHS England recently published an acute trust league table for the first time, where each trust across the country was ranked. 

Trusts in England will now be ranked every three months, with scores focusing on seven different areas including waiting times for operations, cancer treatment, time spent in A&E and ambulance response times. 

Top performers will earn more power over spending, with lower ranking trusts receiving support from national officials.

Performance levels are calculated based on data submitted by the trusts, alongside finances also being assessed. The trusts are sorted into four categories called segments.

Segment one contains the best overall performers, with the worst sitting in segment four.

Trusts experiencing financial difficulties cannot be ranked higher than segment three, even if they are assessed to have a good standard of care. Within each segment, the trusts are ranked by their average metric scores.

If its score is lower, it will receive a higher ranking.

The Countess of Chester Hospital came second to last, just a month after its emergency services department was rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

A warning notice was issued to the Countess of Chester Hospital in August after its services were rated inadequate by CQC.

The inspection was carried out in response to concerns regarding the access, flow and care of people with mental health issues attending A&E, and how people are cared for in non-clinical areas like corridors.

"When we inspected the urgent and emergency services, previous concerns still hadn't been addressed yet, which continued to place people at risk," said Karen Knapton, CQC deputy director of operations in the north.

"People were sometimes held in ambulances for prolonged periods of time due to this limited capacity in the department.

"We also saw someone with suspected sepsis not receiving treatment according to national guidance placing them at risk of harm.  

"Staffing gaps combined with a very busy department meant people being cared for in corridor beds had become normalised.

"We will return to check on their progress and won't hesitate to use our regulatory powers further if people aren't receiving the care they have a right to expect."

The deputy director also outlined how the trust had failed to address CQC's previous concerns "regarding cleanliness of the department", which she explained placed people "at risk of infection".

Chester Nub News has approached the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for comment.

You can find the league tables here.