Dr Foster Intelligence

Success Stories 29 November 2009

Each year Dr Foster celebrates the very best of NHS hospitals by awarding the 'trust of the year' prize to the most outstanding foundation, large, medium and small trusts in England. This year we have awarded them based on their performances across patient safety indicators.

Dr Foster Trust of the year

University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

University College London was recently recognised as the fourth best biomedical research centre in the world, after Harvard, Cambridge and Yale. With its six smaller satellite hospitals, it is the biggest and possibly most prestigious university hospital campus in Europe. But this did not make it inevitable that Dr Foster would judge it the best performer in the foundation trust category.

According to its chief executive, Sir Robert Naylor, winning the award reflects a collective achievement by the management in getting staff working together and pulling in the same direction. New buildings and ambitious new projects in the pipeline, coupled with an enviable research base, have attracted very high quality staff.

Naylor was instrumental in persuading the Blair government to recognise foundation trust status, allowing major hospitals to retain their own profits, including those from property deals. He has reaped dividends and is now presiding over a centre of medical excellence second to none. "I have become like a football manager in identifying weaknesses in the team and strategies that can make us world class," he explained. It is a policy which at the moment is paying off very nicely indeed.

Overall hospital trust of the Year and Foundation trust of the year: University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Large hospital trust of the Year: St George's Healthcare NHS Trust

Medium hospital trust of the Year: Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust

Small hospital trust of the Year: Airedale NHS Trust

« back to articles page