If anyone should know about the quality of care a hospital provides, it is the staff who work there.

So The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital was certainly delighted to be ranked joint top in the country for employees rating the care they give.

A total of 93 per cent of staff at the Oswestry-based hospital answered ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ in response to the statement: If a friend or relative needed treatment I would be happy with the standard of care provided by this organisation.

That was a score only matched by the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre on The Wirrall.

The question formed part of the National Staff Survey 2017. High level survey data, which grouped questions into ‘Key Findings’ was first published early in March – but the question-level detail has only just been revealed. Full results can be found online.

Mark Brandreth, chief executive at the Orthopaedic, said: “I have always known that our staff are truly extraordinary, but this survey data also shows that they recognise the quality of care they provide.

“This finding also backs up what we have previously seen from other surveys – patients ranked us No 1 in the country for overall patient experience last year in the National Inpatient Survey, for example.

“It’s important we take time to celebrate results like this, and recognise our staff’s successes. Happy staff equals happy patients!”

The Orthopaedic also scored very well across a number of other key areas – ranking as the best hospital provider in the entire Midlands in most of them.

It scored joint fifth in the country in terms of staff recommending it as a place to work – 75 per cent gave a positive answer to that question. Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, based in Central London, came top with 78 per cent.

A total of 87 per cent of staff answered that care of patients or service users was the organisation’s top priority. That was the joint eighth best in the country – and also represented a 9 per cent improvement on the score from the previous year’s survey.

“Right across the Staff Survey, we have seen improvement this year and that obviously pleases me,” added Mark.

“It’s also highlighted some areas where we know we can do better – including around equality and diversity and reward and recognition for staff.

“I genuinely believe this is the best hospital in the country. Our staff are clearly proud of care we provide and the outcomes we deliver, and we will keep working hard so that we are reflecting on even more impressive results in 12 months’ time.”