WORCESTER'S troubled hospital has been shortlisted for an award as the best hospital in Britain.

The Sunday Times Good Hospital Guide says the Worcestershire Royal Hospital is in the top seven in the country when judged on mortality rates, patient waiting times and the quality of service.

The news has been welcomed by hospital chiefs, who have faced a barrage of criticism over bed-blocking, debts and cancelled operations since the hospital opened in March 2002.

The city's Labour MP Mike Foster said: "I'm delighted, not just for the hardworking staff there but for the patients who have benefited from the health care they've receiving. In my opinion the new building has been a vast improvement."

But Wyre Forest MP Dr Richard Taylor - a long-term critic of the hospital - was "speechless".

"It means the Sunday Times survey is worth nothing," he said. "It does not fit with the comments I have received from so many patients and their relatives."

The guide gives Worcestershire Royal six high-quality service awards for the treatment of cancer, heart and stroke patients, and praises staff for achieving a sharp improvement in the mortality rate.

It ranks the hospital fifth out of 18 hospitals in the West Midlands region when only mortality rates and waiting times were taken into account.

Dr Charles Ashton, consultant physician and Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust medical director, said it was a tribute to the hard work done by all the hospital's staff.

"As well as highlighting a particular range of high quality services provided at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, the survey also reflects the progress being made at all our hospitals," he said.

This week, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust came under fire because of a £7.5m short-term loan, which it took out to cover its March wage bill.

The 96-page Good Hospital Guide is an independent audit of hospital standards.