Best and worst-performing NHS trusts in England named in new league tables
10 September 2025
Getty Images/Thomas FaullBy Storm Newton, PA Media
League tables of the best and worst-performing NHS trusts in England have been published by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) for the first time.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said the quarterly rankings will pinpoint where urgent support is needed and help end the “postcode lottery” of care for patients.
However, experts have questioned the helpfulness of the tables, warning that hospital performance is “not as simple as good or bad”.
The rankings score trusts based on a range of measures, including finances and patient access to care, as well as bringing down waiting times for operations and A&E and improving ambulance response times.
Trusts are categorised in four segments, with the first reflecting the best performers and the fourth showing the worst. See below for the full table.
Top performers will be given greater freedoms and investment, the DHSC said.
The majority of the top 10 best-performing hospitals were specialist trusts.
Number one is Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, followed by the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust.
The best-performing large hospital trust is Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which came in at number nine.
Among the worst-performing trusts are Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Devon Partnership Trust.
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust was ranked bottom of the table.
Under the plans by the DHSC, higher standards will also be set for leaders, with pay tied to performance.
Senior managers at trusts that are persistently ranked poorly could see their pay docked, while NHS leaders will have extra pay incentives to go into challenged trusts and turn them around.
Meanwhile, those in the middle will be encouraged to learn from trusts at the top to help them improve their rankings.
Mr Streeting said: “We must be honest about the state of the NHS to fix it. Patients and taxpayers have to know how their local NHS services are doing compared to the rest of the country.
“These league tables will identify where urgent support is needed and allow high-performing areas to share best practices with others, taking the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS.
“Patients know when local services aren’t up to scratch and they want to see an end to the postcode lottery – that’s what this government is doing.”
Increase in training places
It comes as the British Medical Association (BMA) announced that doctors in their first year of training in England are to be balloted over the prospect of industrial action over a lack of places for doctors in training.
The union has called for an increase in the number of training places.
Expanding the number of training places could also form part of ongoing talks with the government as ministers and the BMA’s Resident Doctors Committee try to break the stalemate in the ongoing row over pay.
Separate tables have been published for acute, non-acute and ambulance trusts.
The top performer is North West Ambulance Trust, followed by East Midlands Ambulance Trust and Yorkshire Ambulance Trust.
East of England Ambulance Trust was ranked the worst.
From next summer, the tables will be expanded to cover integrated care boards, which are responsible for planning health services at a local level, and wider areas of NHS performance.
Sir James Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, said giving patients access to more data “will help to drive improvement even faster by supporting them to identify where they should demand even better from their NHS”.
However, Danielle Jefferies, senior analyst at The King’s Fund, warned that “a single ranking cannot give the public a meaningful understanding of how good or bad a hospital is”.
“Whether NHS trust league tables will be helpful to the public is questionable, because hospital performance is not as simple as good or bad,” she said.
She added that while tables can be a “helpful tool”, a single ranking “hides the variation in performance across different departments within the same hospital” and also “hides the variation in performance that can exist across the multiple hospital sites that are often run by a single trust”.
'People want clarity'
Chris McCann, deputy chief executive of Healthwatch England, said: “People want clarity on how their local NHS is doing, and they’ll welcome anything that makes that easier to understand.
“But if a service is struggling, transparency must come with accountability. Patients need to know what’s being done to fix the problem, and when it will improve.”
Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, added: “There’s more work to do before patients, staff and trusts can have confidence that these league tables are accurately identifying the best-performing organisations.
“For league tables to really drive up standards, tackle variations in care, and boost transparency, they need to measure the right things, be based on accurate, clear and objective data and avoid measuring what isn’t in individual providers’ gift to improve. Then they will drive improvement and boost performance.”
The new league tables follow the publication of an NHS England online dashboard which aims to give the public more information on how local health services compare.
Trusts are ranked by seven measures of performance including waiting times, cancer treatment, time patients spend in emergency departments and waits for diagnostic tests.
Full list of league tables
The list, published by DHSC, is divided into three sections: acute trusts; non-acute trusts; and ambulance trusts. The lower the score, the better the performance.
Acute trusts:
Category one
1 Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Specialist) 1.39
2 Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust (Specialist) 1.48
3 The Christie NHS Foundation Trust (Specialist) 1.51
4 Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Specialist) 1.52
5 Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Specialist) 1.55
6 The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust (Specialist) 1.56
7 The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust (Specialist) 1.57
8 The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust (Specialist) 1.70
9 Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Large) 1.74
10 University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 1.8
11 Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (Teaching) 1.82
12 Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (Large) 1.87
13 University Hospitals Bristol & Weston NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 1.93
14 The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Specialist) 1.97
15 Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.00
16 Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust (Specialist) 2.02
Category two
17 Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Large) 2.08
18 Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (Large) 2.13
19 East & North Hertfordshire NHS Trust (Large) 2.16
20 Somerset NHS Foundation Trust (Multi-service) 2.17
21 South Tyneside & Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (Large) 2.18
22 North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust (Medium) 2.20
23 London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (Teaching) 2.21
24 North Bristol NHS Trust (Large) 2.27
25 South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.28
26 The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.2
27 The Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Specialist) 2.31
Category three:
28 Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 1.68
=29 Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 1.70
=29 Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Specialist) 1.70
31 Kingston & Richmond NHS Foundation Trust (Medium) 1.77
32 West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (Teaching) 1.88
33 The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust (Medium) 1.90
34 Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust (Large) 1.95
35 Harrogate & District NHS Foundation Trust (Small) 1.96
36 Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust (Small) 1.97
=37 Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.00
=37 Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust (Large) 2.00
=37 St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.00
40 Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust (Specialist) 2.02
=41 Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Small) 2.03
=41 Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Medium) 2.03
=41 Whittington Health NHS Trust (Multi-service) 2.03
=44 Airedale NHS Foundation Trust (Small) 2.05
=44 Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust (Specialist) 2.05
=46 Birmingham Women’s & Children’s NHS Foundation Trust (Specialist) 2.1
=46 Surrey & Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (Medium) 2.12
=48 Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Small) 2.13
=48 Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Medium) 2.13
=48 University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.13
51 Doncaster & Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.14
52 Ashford & St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Medium) 2.15
53 Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust (Multi-service) 2.18
=54 Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.24
=54 Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Large) 2.24
56 Mersey & West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (Teaching) 2.25
=57 Barking, Havering & Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (Teaching) 2.26
=57 Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust (Small) 2.26
=59 Bolton NHS Foundation Trust (Medium) 2.28
=59 Tameside & Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust (Small) 2.28
=61 Calderdale & Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (Large) 2.30
=61 East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (Large) 2.30
=61 Epsom & St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust (Teaching) 2.30
=64 Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Small) 2.31
=64 Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Medium) 2.31
66 County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (Multi-service) 2.34
67 University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.36
=68 Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust (Specialist) 2.37
=68 The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust (Small) 2.37
70 Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.40
=71 Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.41
=71 Torbay & South Devon NHS Foundation Trust (Multi-service) 2.41
=73 Isle of Wight NHS Trust (Multi-service) 2.42
=73 Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Small) 2.42
=73 Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.42
=76 Croydon Health Services NHS Trust (Medium) 2.43
=76 Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Medium) 2.43
=76 Wye Valley NHS Trust (Multi-service) 2.43
=79 Barts Health NHS Trust (Teaching) 2.45
=79 King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.45
=79 The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (Large) 2.45
82 South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.46
=83 Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust (Medium) 2.47
=83 University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.47
=83 University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (Teaching) 2.47
=86 East Suffolk & North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (Large) 2.48
=86 Stockport NHS Foundation Trust (Medium) 2.48
88 Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust (Large) 2.49
89 East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (Large) 2.50
90 West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (Small) 2.51
91 Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust (Large) 2.53
=92 Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.54
=92 Wrightington, Wigan & Leigh NHS Foundation Trust (Medium) 2.54
94 Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust (Teaching) 2.55
95 Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.56
=96 Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (Teaching) 2.57
=96 Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Small) 2.57
=96 Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust (Medium) 2.57
99 East Cheshire NHS Trust (Small) 2.58
100 Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (Teaching) 2.59
=101 East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.60
=101 Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Large) 2.60
=101 University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (Teaching) 2.60
Category four:
104 Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (Large) 2.61
=105 North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust (Large) 2.62
=105 The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Small) 2.62
107 Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.6
108 University Hospitals of Derby & Burton NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.64
109 University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (Teaching) 2.67
110 Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (Large) 2.68
111 Norfolk & Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.69
112 Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust (Medium) 2.70
113 The Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust (Medium) 2.72
114 Dartford & Gravesham NHS Trust (Small) 2.78
115 Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.80
116 Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.81
117 University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.82
=118 Warrington & Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.84
=118 York & Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.84
120 The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (Small) 2.85
121 George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust (Small) 2.86
122 United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (Large) 2.88
=123 Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (Teaching) 2.91
=123 Mid & South Essex NHS Foundation Trust (Large) 2.91
=125 Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.93
=125 Northern Lincolnshire & Goole NHS Foundation Trust (Medium) 2.93
=127 Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.97
=127 University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.97
129 James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) 2.98
=130 Medway NHS Foundation Trust (Medium) 2.99
=130 North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust (Medium) 2.99
132 University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust (Teaching) 3.01
133 Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Small) 3.04
134 The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn, NHS Foundation Trust (Small) 3.35
Non-acute trusts:
Category one:
1 North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 1.73
2 Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 1.74
3 Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 1.79
=4 Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust (Community) 1.82
=4 Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (Community) 1.82
=4 North East London NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 1.82
=7 Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (Community) 1.87
=7 Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 1.87
9 Kent And Medway NHS & Social Care Partnership Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 1.91
10 West London NHS Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 1.94
11 Norfolk Community Health & Care NHS Trust (Community) 2.01
12 Wirral Community Health & Care NHS Foundation Trust (Community) 2.02
13 Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.03
Category two:
14 Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.06
=15 Leeds & York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.13
=15 Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust (Community) 2.13
=17 Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust (Community) 2.16
=17 Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.16
=17 Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust (Community) 2.16
=17 Surrey & Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.16
21 Gloucestershire Health & Care NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.18
22 Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.22
23 Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.26
24 Tees, Esk & Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.28
25 Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.30
Category three:
26 South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 1.77
27 Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 1.80
28 Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust (Community) 2.04
29 Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.13
30 Rotherham Doncaster & South Humber NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.16
31 Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.25
32 Herefordshire & Worcestershire Health & Care NHS Trust (Community) 2.32
33 Hampshire & Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.33
34 South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.38
35 Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.41
36 Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.45
37 Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.48
38 Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.50
=39 Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Community) 2.53
=39 East London NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.53
41 Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (Community) 2.54
42 North London NHS Foundation Trust (Care) 2.56
43 Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.59
44 South West London & St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.60
Category four:
45 Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.65
=46 Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.67
=46 Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.67
48 Sheffield Health & Social Care NHS Foundation Trust (Care) 2.70
=49 Cheshire & Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.77
=49 Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.77
51 Coventry & Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.79
52 Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust (Community) 2.80
=53 Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust (Care) 2.84
=53 Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.84
55 Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.90
56 Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.92
57 Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 2.94
58 Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 3.02
59 Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 3.07
60 Devon Partnership NHS Trust (Mental Health & Learning Disability) 3.14
61 Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Community) 3.34
Ambulance trusts:
Category one
1 North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust 1.82
2 East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust 1.84
3 Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust 1.86
Category two
4 South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust 2.28
5 North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust 2.32
Category three
6 West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust 2.15
7 London Ambulance Service NHS Trust 2.47
Category four
8 South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust 2.75
9 South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust 2.91
10 East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust 3.02
Contains content provided by PA. Copyright © PA Media 2025
You might also like