A HEALTH trust has seen “vast improvements” in the last 12 months, according to a national report.NHS Great Yarmouth and Waveney was one from the bottom in last year's World Class Commissioning league table and the lowest PCT in the east of England's rankings.

A HEALTH trust has seen “vast improvements” in the last 12 months, according to a national report.

NHS Great Yarmouth and Waveney was one from the bottom in last year's World Class Commissioning league table and the lowest PCT in the east of England's rankings.

But this year, for 2009/10, health bosses have worked hard to push performance up with the organisation coming in at 83 out of 152 primary care trusts.

It is fifth out of 13 PCTs in the east of England.

Dr Sushil Jathanna, chief Executive of NHS Great Yarmouth and Waveney, said: “This is a fantastic result for us and I want to thank each and every member of staff for their hard work in raising us to this position after last year's poor ranking.

“World Class Commissioning is a test of how well we commission - or buy - healthcare services for the area.

“We have worked very hard throughout the last 12 months and made vast improvements in all areas of our work to ensure healthcare is the absolute best for our 230,000 patients.”

World Class Commissioning ranks primary care trusts on all areas of work, including finance, to what extent they lead health care in their area and how much they engage with the community.

The process takes best practice from this country and from health systems around the world to help PCTs commission services in the most effective way.

It is designed to ensure delivery of better services which are more closely matched to local needs, resulting in better quality of care, improved health and wellbeing and a reduction in health inequalities.

Health managers have to submit evidence, which is then scrutinised by a subjective panel before each primary care trust is scored and ranked.

Dr Jathanna added: “We are pleased with the report which has outlined our strengths and highlighting areas for improvement.”

The report shows that progress at NHS Great Yarmouth and Waveney has been good, with the improvements driven through across the PCT reflected in enhanced performance ratings for 2009/10. In addition, other strengths highlighted by the report include:

A clear demonstration of NHS GYW's ambition to continue improving

The good progress which the PCT has made in managing its finances

Strong clinical input at Board level

Improved engagement with clinicians, the public, patients and local partners

Successful working relationships with community partners to commission services which bring the greatest health gains

Dr Jathanna said: “We welcome this report and the recommendations it contains and view it as a useful tool for measuring our progress over the past 12 months.

“The report has provided us with positive feedback in a number of key areas and recognises the significant improvements we have made in both our performance and the management of our finances. This fantastic achievement would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our staff, and I would again like to thank them for their enormous contribution.

“We will now look in detail at the recommendations of the report so that we can continue to deliver the best possible health services for the people in our community and we look forward to transferring some of the skills which we have developed into the new GP group.”