HOSPITAL staff in East Lancashire work for one of the best health trusts in the country, experts have said.

Bosses at the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust have expressed their delight after it made a ‘Best Places to Work’ list.

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The top 100 table was compiled by industry publications the Health Service Journal and the Nursing Times, based on responses to a staff survey.

It is another step forward for the Trust, which came out of special measures 11 months ago and has also worked to reduce the weekend death rate, previously an area of concern for NHS inspectors.

Human resources boss and head of organisational development at the Trust, Kevin Moynes, said: “We are absolutely thrilled with this accolade and it demonstrates just how far we have come in the last 18 months.

“Our focus has been on improving staff engagement and morale, and making the trust a place where people want to come and work.

“Our staff are simply fantastic and being placed in this top 100 list shows that our staff, despite all the challenges the NHS presents, rate the trust as a good place to work with opportunities for development and growth.”

Independent workplace research firm Best Companies Group worked with the two trade titles to analyse NHS staff survey data.

Haslingden and Hyndburn MP Graham Jones said he was ‘surprised’ at the findings.

He said: “When I speak to NHS staff they are demoralised. But the new chief executive Kevin McGee is determined to take the hospital forward after it was put into special measures following the Keogh Report. He has been determined to help the hospital and its staff and it will be interesting to see if these new findings are reflected on the doorstep when I speak to staff in the future.”