Oswestry’s orthopaedic hospital is leading the way in tackling hospital infections and ensuring its staff feel valued, a new report revealed today.

The hospital is in the top 20 per cent of NHS trusts across the country for making hand-washing facilities available, the report by the Healthcare Commission said.

It was also named as one of the country’s top 20 per cent specialist trusts where staff feel valued by colleagues and agree they have an interesting job.

And the hospital scored high in the survey for offering staff training in areas such as health and safety, equality and diversity and job development.

The results were revealed in the Healthcare Commission’s annual NHS staff survey.

The survey identified areas which could be improved including tackling work-related stress, having regular appraisals and development plans and staff receiving relevant job related training .

Hospital bosses said since October, work has been carried out in a number of these areas and significant improvements are being made.

Wendy Farrington Chadd, the hospital trust’s chief executive, said: “I am pleased this survey highlighted our commitment to reducing infection rates and to provide training in important fields such as health and safety and diversity.

“The survey results also highlight areas for improvement. I am committed to listening to all staff and making changes and will work with managers and frontline staff to make sure those changes happen.

“I am very grateful to all staff for their hard work and commitment to the organisation and acknowledge that more needs to be done to ensure we provide the best work environment and opportunities for development for all our staff.”

The NHS staff survey is the largest healthcare workforce survey in the world.

Last year the Gobowen-based hospital celebrated recognition as the best hospital in England after coming top in a national inpatient survey, by the Healthcare Commission.