AFTER another critical report by a new NHS watchdog, hospitals in the region are under scrutiny as never before.

The Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) is inspecting five NHS trusts in the North-East or North Yorkshire.

Teams from CHI have been inspecting hospitals in North Tees, Hartlepool, Gateshead and Scarborough. Next in line are major NHS hospitals in York and Newcastle.

Following this week's publication of a damning CHI report into a West Midlands hospital trust, managers in this region could be forgiven for feeling apprehensive.

Set up last year as an independent Health Service inspection unit, CHI has visited about 25 NHS trusts and plans to visit all 500 in England and Wales.

While CHI insists it is only interested in improving standards of patient care, some within the Health Service have voiced private concerns that the inspection only adds to the pressures facing under-resourced NHS trusts.

So far, the only report into a North-East hospital - published last December - gave City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Trust a clean bill of health, praising the Wearside trust's "strong performance culture."

A spokeswoman for CHI said that a report on North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust is due to be published later this week.

Inspections at Gateshead Health NHS Trust, and Scarborough General Hospital NHS Trust have taken place and reports are due soon.

York District Hospital is due to be inspected and bosses at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust are on notice that they will be visited shortly.

Len Fenwick, chief executive of the Newcastle trust, said: "We look forward to benefiting from the CHI visit. We acknowledge that we can always do better."

l Any members of the public who wish to comment on the Newcastle trust should phone CHI on 0845 601 3012