HOSPITALS are in the spotlight today – and it's a case of the good, the bad and the very, very ugly.
Good because three local health trusts – Birmingham Children's Hospital, the Heart of England and South Staffordshire and Shropshire Mental Healthcare – have been revealed by official figures to be among the best in the country.
Bad because the same statistics reveal that Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust and Good Hope Hospital Trust are doing poorly.
Ugly because of the heart-rending case of Daniel Kay, left with severe brain damage after being starved of oxygen when medics blundered at his birth at Sandwell Hospital.
We hope that the £5.5 million compensation he was today awarded will help ensure a better life for Daniel and those who care for him.
We also hope that hospital managers and their staff learn from the mistakes that led to his devastating disabilities so that no other children suffer a similar fate.
Let them learn, too, from the example set generally by high-achieving hospital trusts so that patients across the region receive a uniformly good service.
We send our congratulations and thanks to those administrators, doctors, nurses and ancillary staff whose hospitals are already high-performers.
And we hope that in a year's time their will be no more stories to tarnish the NHS's image.