Barnet Hospital has been rated as weak' for the quality of services it provides and its financial management, according to an independent report published today.

The findings were made by the Healthcare Commission, the independent inspection body for the NHS.

Barnet Hospital automatically received a weak' rating for quality of services because it did not meet all national targets, including the target to see, treat, discharge or admit 98 per cent of patients in accident and emergency within four hours.

It also did not return data on targets to refer and treat cancer patients within a given time.

It did, however, score excellent' for meeting new national targets. A Barnet Hospital spokesman expressed disappointment with the results and said it would have achieved much higher ratings if rated on its current performance.

He said: "For quality of services, it's not about how well we treated patients but on the quality of our data.

"We achieved the targets for cancer patients but we failed on how they were reported, otherwise we would have been classified as fair."

He added the hospital - which is under the same hospital trust as Chase Farm Hospital in Enfield - scored 96.5 per cent for the A&E target last year.

He said it currently achieves more than 99 per cent and is also on track to achieve the necessary savings it needs to work towards financial balance.

The commission's findings were hardly any better for Barnet Primary Care Trust (PCT); its quality of services rated weak', while its financial management was fair'.

However, the PCT - which is responsible for providing services across the borough including Edgware and Finchley Community Hospitals - did score excellent' for reducing smoking and good' for its review of substance misuse services.

There was similarly mixed news for Hampstead's Royal Free Hospital, with quality of services rated good', but financial management weak'.

The Royal Free, one of the 48 per cent of acute trusts in the country scoring good' for quality of services, almost met all the existing national targets, and was scored as excellent for meeting new national targets, and good' for its review of medicines and children's services.

Royal Free chief executive Andrew Way said: "This is a very much more wide-ranging assessment than the stars system was and patients and commissioners can have confidence that this is a good quality organisation. We have also made huge progress on the financial side, which is showing through now month on month."

All healthcare trusts in England were given a rating of excellent', good', fair' or weak' on their quality of services and financial management, which together provide the first comprehensive picture of whether trusts meet certain standards.

These scores replace the star rating system, under which hospitals received zero, one, two or three stars depending on their performance. Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust was rated as weak' for its handling of finances and fair' for its quality of services and for meeting new national targets.