Top 40 hospital for 12th year in a row

The Countess of Chester Hospital received a 40Top Hospitals Award for the twelfth year in succession, one of only five Trusts in the country to achieve this. The awards have only been in existence for twelve years meaning that the Countess has successfully received the award every year since it was comprised in 2001.

The winners were announced by CHKS, the UK's leading independent provider of healthcare intelligence and quality improvement services.

As well as individual awards for patient safety, quality of care and data quality, CHKS celebrates excellence amongst its clients across the UK with the 40Top Awards. These are based on the evaluation of 23 key performance indicators covering safety, clinical effectiveness, health outcomes, efficiency, patient experience and quality of care.

Dr Virginia Clough, the Trust's Medical Director, said: "This is the fifth successive year that I have had the privilege to collect this award on behalf of the Countess of Chester Hospital. In a difficult period of change and financial pressure we have still been recognised nationally as a top performing hospital which is a testament to the commitment and hard work of all our staff.  We have now held this award for 12 years - an amazing achievement."

Gaynor Hales, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Nursing, Quality and Environment added: "I would like to pay tribute to the hard work put in by all members of staff at the Countess. Of particular pleasure has been our sustained success in tackling Healthcare Associated Infections. The fact that we have not had a single case of MRSA Bacteraemia since July 2011 is one of our many achievements in the past year."

Jason Harries, Managing Director, CHKS said: "We are delighted that the Countess of Chester Hospital is one of our 40Top Hospitals for 2012. These awards recognise outstanding performance in 23 areas which we believe are critical to delivering good patient care."