THE Great Western Hospital is one of the best trusts to work for across the country, according to staff.

The 2011 NHS Staff Survey published this month showed that the GWH was performing above average when compared with trusts of a similar type around the UK.

The GWH performed especially well in health and safety training, with 92 per cent of staff receiving training in the last 12 months compared to just 81 per cent nationally.

Staff also said they felt valued by work colleagues and an above average number of staff agreed that their role makes a difference to patients.

Although overall the results were promising, a number of areas were flagged up as negative findings, including a lower than average number of staff feeling satisfied with the quality of work and patient care they were able to deliver and the amount of people working extra hours.

Oonagh Fitzgerald, director of workforce, said: “Overall we’re pleased with the latest staff survey results which show that the Great Western Hospitals NHS FT is a good place to work.

“We’ve invested a lot of time and energy in training and development, recognition, engaging staff in important issues and a wide range of other areas and this work is reflected in generally positive results.

“In particular, over the past year the motivation of our staff has increased which is recognition of their professionalism and dedication to patients.

“Across many of the indicators we are above average when compared to other hospitals and in nearly half of the areas we are in the best 20 per cent of trusts across the UK.

“Like any business there are areas where our staff are telling us we need to improve and we’ll be focussing on these in the year ahead.”