Yorkshire group of hospitals wins trust of year title

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust runs the city’s Northern General, Royal Hallamshire, Jessop and Weston Park hospitals as well as the Charles Clifford Dental Hospital.

Healthcare inspection firm Dr Foster looked at all aspects of the trust’s work and compared it with every acute hospital trust in the country before awarding it the Trust of the Year award.

Tim Baker, the chief executive of Dr Foster, said: “The Trust of the Year award recognises excellence in the NHS.

“It is important to identify hospitals where the evidence points to outstanding achievement, both in outcomes and in how patients’ rate their experience of care.

“To be named Dr Foster Trust of the year a trust has to perform highly on two important measures of hospital quality: mortality and patient experience.”

Patient Maureen Youel, of Barnsley, said her experience at Weston Park Hospital, which treats cancer patients had been excellent, and added that staff deserved “every bit of this accolade”.

The 70-year-old, who underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy for a tumour in her oesophagus, said: “The expertise, kindness and care I received were second to none.

“From the receptionists to the surgeons, nurses and cleaners, the staff at Sheffield Hospitals are very special.

“My treatment was always delivered with compassion and I felt as though I could have been the only person that was ill in the hospital, because the staff saw to my every need.”

Sir Andrew Cash, chief executive of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “I am delighted that everyone’s hard work and dedication at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals has been recognised by being named the top performing hospital trust in the UK.

“It is particularly pleasing because the title of Hospital Trust of the Year is independently assessed.

“It is only awarded to an organisation which demonstrates excellence in the things which really matter to patients including safety, quality of care, waiting times, cleanliness of the hospitals and how responsive a trust is to its patients.

“However, healthcare is not just about hospital care, it is a joint effort and so this award is also testament to the excellent staff who work for the trust providing community health services as well as our other health and social care partners who work with us across the region.”

[email protected]