A NATIONAL survey by the health regulator has revealed positive results about the care provided to Wirral University Teaching Hospital's youngest patients.

The 2016 Children’s and Young Peoples survey, undertaken by the CQC (Care Quality Commission) involved 132 NHS Trusts across the country and asked youngsters and their parents about their experience in hospital, either as an inpatient or day case.

Parents of babies to seven year olds put Wirral Women and Children's Hospital, which is part of Wirral University Teaching Hospital, ahead of most other NHS hospital trusts in England for several questions, includ- ing knowing who to contact if they had concerns once their child had left hospital and how staff communicated with their children.

Parents were also overwhelmingly positive about the friendli- ness of staff and agreed that their children had been well looked after, giving the trust some of the best results in the country for these areas.

Young patients aged eight to 15 also had their say and were particularly positive about the hospital being quiet enough for them to sleep and receiving the help that they needed if they were in pain during their time in hospital.

Other responses, which were in line with the majority of other hospitals across the country, showed that children felt able to ask questions about their care, could talk about their worries and felt understood by the staff looking after them.

Consultant paediatrician for the Trust, Dr Jude Joseph, said: "These results are an important indicator of how our young patients and their parents feel about the care we provide.

"We are delighted to have performed better than many other organisations in some parts of this survey and are pleased that overall, there are no negative results, which is reflection of the progress we continue to make.

"There is a recurring theme throughout our recent survey results, which shows that despite operational pressures our clinical teams continue to treat people as individuals, keeping them informed and listening to their needs.

"Hospitals can be over - whelming for young patients and their families so we work hard to make our services as friendly and accommodating as possible.

"A lot of effort is put into building relationships and trust and we strive to create as much normality as possible in what is often an abnormal situation for the families affected.

"It is a huge team effort and I would like to thank every- one who plays a part in this."