HALTON and Warrington and Halton Hospitals have been named as one of the top 100 places to work in the NHS by the Health Service Journal national magazine.

It’s the first time they have featured in this independent survey after a sample of 830 staff from the hospitals were selected at random.

The trust scored above the national average in terms of engaging with its staff, with employees ranking the hospitals amongst the best 20 per cent of hospitals for them being able to contribute towards improvements at work and staff motivation.

Mel Pickup, chief executive of Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We’re delighted to have been named in the top 100 employers in the NHS.

“We put a staff health and wellbeing strategy in place nearly two years ago and a framework that puts staff in the centre of everything that we do.

“We’ve worked hard to improve engagement with our staff and put in place initiatives to improve work life balance.

“ The staff survey this year showed we’re improving in this area and changing the culture of the hospitals.

“We also have a range of things in place to support our teams, from flexible working and childcare and other staff benefits through to exercise classes run by our physio team.

“Our staff are our greatest asset and it is important that we do everything we can to support them. We still want to do more but this is great recognition for what we are trying to achieve at the trust and has a positive impact on the care that patients receive.”

The survey scored above the national average for developing staff and for support from immediate managers and equality in terms of career progression and development.

"The trust also improved its score for staff feeling satisfied with the quality of work and patient care that they deliver and recommending the trust as a place to work or receive treatment which rates alongside the national average across the NHS.