NHS Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has been rated as ‘good’ by NHS England for the third year running as part of an annual assessment known as Improvement Assessment Framework.

The results, published on 11 July 2019, show that Sheffield have improved in a number of areas, including waiting times for a diagnostic test, appropriate prescribing in primary care and reducing infant deaths and stillbirths.

As part of the process, the CCG had an annual review where they were commended by NHS England for their continued work to improve mental health services in the city.

The review also shows that the CCG has made improvements with fewer patients being delayed leaving hospital which has in turn helped the NHS in Sheffield manage the busy winter period.

Lesley Smith, Accountable Officer at NHS Sheffield CCG, said: “It is great news that we have managed to maintain our ‘good’ rating. I am in no doubt that this is down to the hard work and dedication of our staff, our member practices and their teams and our partners across the city. They should be proud of what they have achieved.

“The review highlights a number areas where we continue to do well and areas where we have improved. I am really pleased that in Sheffield we have some of the lowest waiting times in the country for referrals to planned hospital treatment. We continue to deliver the national target of a maximum of 18 weeks between referral to first hospital appointment.”

The CCG have also improved public engagement, they have gone from requires improvement to good.

In addition to this, GP practices in Sheffield are consistently diagnosing dementia in their patients at, or above, the level that could be expected leading to earlier interventions and treatments which can potentially improve outcomes for these patients.

NHS England also commended the CCG on balancing the books and managing taxpayer’s money by delivering all the financial standards.

The full dashboard is published on the “My NHS” section of the NHS Choices website and is available at www.nhs.uk/service-search/Performance/Search.