A HOSPITAL trust has won national recognition for the way it keeps its patients safe.

Western Sussex Hospitals was named best organisation in the prestigious patient safety awards held earlier this month.

The trust, which runs hospitals in Worthing, Chichester and Shoreham, was specifically commended for its leadership and commitment to continually improving its services and performance.

More than 550 submissions were received by the awards organisers and 170 of these made it to the fnal cut.

Western Sussex was one of 21 winners confirmed during the awards ceremony in Manchester.

The judges said: “This organisation demonstrated to the judges aspirational and authentic leadership at every level. There was a deep commitment to continuous quality and safety improvement.”

Trust chief medical officer and deputy chief executive George Findlay accepted the award alongside medical director Tim Taylor.

Dr Findlay said: “We are exceptionally proud to receive this much-coveted award for best organisation for patient safety.

“It is a real testament to the passion, expertise and excellent quality care our 9,300 members of staff provide.

“The award is also a further endorsement of Patient First – our leading approach to continuous improvement.

“This continues to receive national recognition and makes our trust such an empowering place to be employed, no matter where you work within the organisation.”

The Patient Safety Awards took place during the annual Patient Safety Congress.

Dr Findlay was invited to lead a session on how to develop a learning organisation.

Speakers at the event also included Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Sir David Behan, chief executive of the Care Quality Commission.

In April last year, Western Sussex Hospitals was rated outstanding by the Care Quality Commission.

It remains one of only five acute hospital trusts in the country to have received the health watchdog’s highest rating.

The patient safety recognition is the latest of several awards received by the trust.

Chief executive Marianne Griffiths was recently named chief executive of the year at the prestigious Health Service Journal awards.

Western Sussex consistently hits Government targets and has managed to avoid large deficits reported by other hospital trusts in the county.

It is responsible for running Worthing Hospital, St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester and Southlands Hospital in Shoreham.

The trust deals with more than 118,000 inpatients and 437,000 outpatients every year.

It also has more than 133,000 A&E attendances.