THE North-East NHS has lost its title of being the best performing region in the country.

It follows the publication of annual performance ratings by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The ratings, based on performance between April 2008 and March 2009, show that 12 out of 23 North-East trusts received a lower overall score than last year.

Five improved their overall quality score, while six have received the same overall quality score.

The new ratings also show an overall improvement in the performance of NHS organisations in North Yorkshire.

Throughout the region, the only trust to be rated weak for the overall quality of services was the Yorkshire Ambulance NHS Trust, the same score it achieved last year.

The star performing trusts, which were rated excellent in the quality of services and their financial management, were Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Harrogate Health Care Foundation NHS Trust.

South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, and The Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, went from providing a good quality of care to providing excellent care.

The same trust also improved its financial performance from fair to good.

Several trusts which were rated as providing an excellent quality of care for patients in 2007-8 were downgraded to good this year.

They included County Durham and Darlington Foundation NHS Trust, which runs Darlington Memorial Hospital, The University Hospital of North Durham and Bishop Auckland Hospital.

Other trusts which slipped from excellent to good included the North-East Ambulance Service, South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust and Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation NHS Trust.

In North Yorkshire, York District Hospital slipped from providing excellent care to good care, while the Scarborough hospital trust moved up from weak care to fair care.

North Yorkshire Primary Care Trust moved up from providing weak care and financial management to fair in both categories.

Jo Dent, North-East director for the CQC, said: “The North-East region continues to perform well in comparison to the rest of the country. The quality of services provided by both primary care trusts and acute trusts is better than the national average.”

But she said teenage pregnancies remained very high and people in the North-East still have relatively low life expectancy compared to the rest of the country.