THE organisation responsible for Sidmouth and Ottery community hospitals has been ranked among the best NHS trusts in the county by its own staff, according to a nationwide survey.

Northern Devon Healthcare is among the top fifth of NHS trusts in 14 areas of the survey out of 38 - compared to 10 last year

The trust was better than average for issues such as satisfaction with quality of work and patient care, levels of work-related injuries and stress, and levels of aggression from patients, visitors and the public.

The only area where the trust emerged below average was for the proportion of staff having well-structured appraisals in the last year.

Maureen Bignell, director of personnel and development, said: “Sometimes progress can be slow, and we know there’s always more we could do, but we’re seeing a gradual improvement over the years.