England’s Department of Health and Social Care has published the first quarterly league tables ranking NHS trusts by performance. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the rankings will highlight where urgent support is needed and help end the postcode lottery in care. The measures cover finances, patient access, waiting times for operations and A&E, and ambulance response times, with trusts organised into four performance bands.

Top performers include Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust, and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, while the best large hospital trust was Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, placed ninth. Among the lower-ranked trusts are Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Devon Partnership Trust, with Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust at the bottom. A separate table covers ambulance services, with North West Ambulance Trust leading, followed by East Midlands and Yorkshire Ambulance Trusts, and the East of England Ambulance Trust at the bottom. The DHSC said from next summer the tables will cover integrated care boards.

The release comes as the British Medical Association indicated trainee doctors in England may ballot on industrial action over training places. Analysts warned that a single ranking cannot fully capture a hospital’s performance, noting variation across departments and sites. Healthwatch England’s Chris McCann said people want clarity about local NHS performance and that transparency must come with accountability. NHS Providers’ Daniel Elkeles said more work is needed to ensure the tables measure the right things with clear data to drive improvements. NHS England chief executive Sir James Mackey said wider data access will help drive improvement by letting patients demand better services.