AN important assessment of services at Hereford hospitals has confirmed GPs' fears over delay in admitting patients.

It calls for an urgent review of the current process of holding patients at home and advises Hereford Hospitals Trust to address problems around the emergency admissions unit.

In a report this week the Commission for Health Improvement said keeping people at home until there was a free bed caused anxiety to patients, carers, staff and GPs and was a clinical risk.

It also suggested the emergency and accident unit at the hospital acts largely as a waiting area for ward beds rather than as an assessment unit.

CHI is an independent body set up to help the NHS monitor and improve clinical care across the country.

It carries out assessments in all NHS trusts and started in Hereford at the beginning of the year.

In its report this week it praises Hereford Hospitals Trust for involving patients in planning and improving its services. The trust had established a consumer group which considered patients' views of care and patient information.

There was praise too for the work of clinical coders which helped to plan more accurately the health care given to patients.

But the report also highlighted the problems round emergency admission at the saying it was aware hospital care was spread across three sites round the city leading to disruption of quality care.

"This has led to problems over patient transfers and the need to move pathology and blood specimens by taxi and ambulance.

"It is hoped the move into the new hospital will resolve the logical problems of working across three sites,'' says the report.

Peter Homa, the chief executive of CHI praised the trust for its efforts in involving patients and acknowledged it was going through a difficult time in developing its services from three sites to one.

He said the trust was aware of the problems and was producing an action plan to further develop areas where they were performing well and to address those where improvement was needed.

"If the action plan is carried out, the quality of care for patients at this trust will be even better than it is now,'' said Mr Homa.