A healthcare watchdog has urged the NHS in London to do more to improve its services. The Healthcare Commission yesterday published ratings for all NHS trusts in England, with each hospital assessed for both quality of services and use of resources and fi

A healthcare watchdog has urged the NHS in London to do more to improve its services.

The Healthcare Commission yesterday published ratings for all NHS trusts in England, with each hospital assessed for both quality of services and use of resources and financial management.

The Royal Free in Hampstead was given a mark of "excellent" in both areas, while the Whittington in Highgate was rated "good".

University College London Hospital was given a grade of "good" for quality of services and was given a special mention for improving its use of resources from "fair" in the previous year to "excellent".

Sam Banga, the commission's chief for London and the south-east, said: "The NHS in London has demonstrated some good successes this year and it is positive that 12 trusts received a score of 'excellent' for quality of services.

"However, London is not keeping pace with improvements in quality of services around the country. There are some real and distinct factors that make provision of healthcare in London more difficult - for example, the sheer size of the city and the diversity and transience of the population.

"London trusts are meeting standards relatively well, but it is issues like accident and emergency waiting times, access to GPs and hospital waiting times where they face challenges.