HOW our heart has sunk at the savaging Worcestershire's health services have suffered in the annual star ratings.

Hats off to Worcestershire Mental Health Trust, the only body to retain the two stars it earned last year. But the rest? Well, words almost fail us.

The greatest blow, arguably, has been felt in the county's Acute Hospitals Trust, which now has one-star status.

The briefest journey through the Evening News cuttings file reveals how turbulent the past couple of years have been, most especially since the trust's crown-jewel Royal Hospital opened 15 months ago.

The only ray of hope, in that time, came when it hit its clinical targets.

Otherwise, it's been a litany of troubles, among them parking, management changes, a beds crisis and a damning Commission for Health Improvement report.

Then there's a debt crisis which threatens to dive deeper than the one which triggered the Investing in Excellence document which, itself, created the present county health system.

Acting chief executive Graham Smith is convinced that real progress is being made after a difficult year. We don't doubt his sincerity, but will remain dubious until we see results.

"I wouldn't want any member of staff to think that this rating suggests in any way that the hard work they do is only worth one star," he adds.

The five-day Royal Special we ran last week backs that view. They're the glue that keeps the whole thing together.

So if it's not the front-line staff, who is it? Something is clearly going wrong, and the people who are paying for it are the staff and patients.

How much longer before we can stop saying that?