Wirral's Hospital Trust has been named among the country’s Top 40 trusts in an independent survey for the third year in succession.

The Trust, which runs Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge hospitals, was one of 130 NHS acute trusts reviewed across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland1. Performances were evaluated on, among other criteria, healthcare-associated infections, mortality rates, waiting times and quality of care.

The Top 40 winners from these hospitals were officially announced at an awards ceremony in London on Wednesday, April 29.

This annual event to celebrate excellence, presented by CHKS, one of the UK’s leading providers of comparative information analysis, is now in its ninth year.

The trust has been a member since CHKS launched the programme, but made the Top 40 for the first time in 2007. The hat-trick of awards demonstrates the Trust’s continuing commitment to provide the highest standards of healthcare.

Len Richards, chief executive, said: “We are once again absolutely delighted with this accolade as it reflects the huge amount of hard work and commitment of all our staff over the past 12 months.

“Being a Top 40 hospital is also great news for our patients and it follows on from the prestigious Large Hospital of the Year award that we received in November from the Dr Foster Good Hospital Guide 2008.

“These awards show our patients that they can be confident that we are not only reaching all the targets and standards that are expected of us, but that the quality of the care they can expect to receive is among the best in the country.”

James Coles, Director of Research, CHKS, said: “We are delighted that Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has been named as one of our 40 Top Hospitals 2009. These awards recognise outstanding performance in 21 areas which we believe are critical to delivering good patient care.”

Photo caption: Dr Ian Jones, Medical Director and John Halliday, Assistant Director of Strategic Development, being presented with the Top 40 award by Jason Harries, Managing Director, CHKS.