Hospital celebrates 'fantastic' league table rank

The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham was ranked 14th in the new league table

The chief executive of a hospital rated the 14th best in the country has described the rating as a "fantastic achievement".

New league tables rating the performance of NHS trusts in England were published for the first time on Tuesday, with specialist hospitals taking the top slots.

The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham was one of those and it also achieved a Level 1 rating in the assessment.

Chief executive Matthew Hartland said the result "reflects the dedication of our staff and the quality of care we deliver every day".

He added: "While the whole NHS continues to face challenges, this rating shows we are in a strong position to keep improving."

There are 134 NHS trusts listed in the league table for England.

Rankings score them on seven areas, including waiting times for operations, cancer treatment and time spent in accident and emergency.

Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust was ranked number one in the new league table, followed by the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust and cancer centre the Christie NHS Foundation Trust.

Another hospital trust in Birmingham, University Hospitals Birmingham, was ranked 127th out of 134.

A trust spokesperson said: "We know there is more that we need to do, particularly in ensuring patients can access care and treatment in a timely way, and this is a priority for us."

UHB result 'surprising'

Richard Burden, the chair of Birmingham and Solihull Healthwatch, said it was good to see the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital's achievement, but added: "Other scores published today are still disappointing.

"They underline once again that several healthcare trusts in this area still have a long way to go to provide the level of service that people in Birmingham and Solihull deserve."

Preet Gill, the MP for Edgbaston, said the position of University Hospitals Birmingham in the table was a surprise.

The hospital is in her constituency and she said: "This is a trust with some great specialism, it supports the Ministry of Defence, we know that there is some fantastic work being done by senior medical staff here."

She said she wanted to see the trust in the top 10 next time.