SURREY Primary Care Trust has said that the Royal Surrey County Hospital's Healthcare Commission ratings are not yet high enough for the NHS trust to achieve foundation status. The PCT made its comment in response to calls by South West Surrey MP Jeremy Hunt and Guildford MP Anne Milton to seek foundation status to safeguard the hospital's future. Disappointed at the attitude so far of the PCT and South East Coast Strategic Health Authority, the two MPs have written requesting a meeting with Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo to push the hospital's case. Mr Hunt said: "We have won the battle for the Royal Surrey but not yet the war. Foundation status may be the only way to secure the Royal Surrey's long- term future." But a statement from the PCT on the issue advised that in order to achieve foundation status, NHS trusts must successfully complete an extremely rigorous application process with the independent regulator, Monitor. "We would expect Monitor to take into account the trust's Healthcare Commission ratings which are not yet of a sufficiently high standard, and indeed we are continuing to work with the trust to ensure they meet the highest quality clinical standards as set out in our commissioning intentions under Fit for the Futurre," said the PCT. In the commission's 2006/07 annual healthcheck the hospital ramked "fair" for both quality of services and use of resources.
