PRAISE from patients treated at Royal Derby Hospital during its first year in operation has placed it in the top 20 per cent of hospitals in the country.

A survey of people who stayed in hospital overnight last year found that 52 per cent of patients in Derby rated their treatment as excellent, compared with 44 per cent nationally.

This placed Royal Derby Hospital, which opened last year, and London Road Community Hospital in the top 20 per cent in the country.

Overall, 99 per cent of patients in Derby rated their treatment as fair, good, very good or excellent.

Chief executive of Derby's hospitals Julie Acred welcomed the news.

She said: "We've improved in almost every area, including cleanliness on the wards and privacy and dignity for our patients.

"And we were rated more highly for the information we give out about treatments and conditions."

The annual Inpatient Survey was carried out by the health watchdog Care Quality Commission, with 162 hospital trusts in England taking part.

It covered 10 topics and, in two of these, Derby's hospitals were better than the national average.

The first of those included questions about the ward and hospital.

Above-average results in this area included a score of nine out of ten for giving patients access to single-sex bathrooms, offering them a choice of food, and for keeping wards and rooms clean.

There was also a score of eight out of 10 for staff keeping quiet and not bothering patients at night.

The hospitals were rated better, worse or about the same as the national average but there were no national scores out of 10 to compare with Derby.

The second area in which the city performed above average had questions about leaving hospital, with good results for giving patients information about their medicines.

This achievement was highlighted by the fact that hospitals elsewhere in the country were criticised by the watchdog for failing to give patients enough information about medicines.

In the remaining eight areas of the survey, Derby's hospitals were in line with the national average.

These topics included nurses, doctors, care and treatment, operations, waiting lists, waiting to get a bed once in hospital, casualty and the overall experience.

But director of nursing Em Wilkinson-Brice said staff would continue to strive for improvements.

The questionnaire was sent to 850 patients, with 492 responses returned.

Cynthia Bower, chief executive of the Care Quality Commission, said the survey had shown year-on-year improvements in many important aspects of hospital care.

She said: "Infection control and mixed-sex accommodation have been a big concern for patients, so it's encouraging to see the substantial improvements in these areas."

Derby's hospitals compared favourably to others in the East Midlands in the national patient survey.

In eight of the 10 areas of questioning, Derby's results were in line with the national average.

And in the remaining two areas of "the ward and hospital" and "leaving hospital", the city was above average.

In comparison, the hospitals in Nottingham, Leicester and Lincoln were average in all areas.

Burton's Queen's Hospital was in line with the national average in nine areas and above it for "operations and procedures".

Chesterfield Royal Hospital was also rated above average in this area and for "waiting lists and planned admissions".