A Shropshire hospital was today named as the best in England for patient care, following a major new NHS study.

The Orthopaedic Hospital at Oswestry beat 165 other acute and specialist NHS trusts to top national league tables for care given to patients and the quality of food. But there were mixed results for the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust.

The trust runs the Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal hospitals.

Overall, the findings of the annual survey by the watchdog Healthcare Commission showed 91 per cent of respondents felt their care from the trust was good, very good, or excellent.

However in the actual league tables it performed poorly, ranking 141 on the issue of mixed wards, and 103 for cleanliness.

For quality of meals though, it was rated 25th nationally.

The survey results are based on responses to questions put to 75,000 patients who had at least one overnight hospital stay in 2007.

The Orthopaedic had the highest score for excellence in care received and came top in the quality of food.

In addition the hospital was in the top 20 per cent of trusts for ward cleanliness, for patients not having to share a mixed sex ward, admission to a bed without a long wait, confidence and trust in doctors and nursing staff, patients treated with dignity and respect and doctors and nurses working well together.

Director of nursing Vicky Morris said: “This survey is a very positive endorsement of the high quality of service and care provided to patients at the Orthopaedic Hospital.

“Our reputation in the areas of strong clinical team approach, treating patients with respect and providing good housekeeping and food have all been demonstrated.”

Tom Taylor, chief executive of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust, said: “Staff work very hard to provide the best possible care to all patients and this is reflected in the fact that we receive ten times as many letters of thanks, gifts and donations than we do complaints.

“However, using the feedback from patients will allow us to address the areas where we can do better.”