WORCESTERSHIRE Community and Mental Health NHS Trust has been recognised as an Investor in People employer, a national standard that states a level of good practice for the training and development of staff.

The Audit Commission estimates NHS trusts spend on average £1 million each year on training and development.

Chairman John Calvert said: "We believe the Investor in People standard has provided the trust with a framework to ensure our patients, as well as those who commission our services, are getting value for money from our investment in education, training and development.

"The Investor in People standard means we have demonstrated to an external body that we have the systems and processes to ensure we work to a nationally recognised standard of training and developing staff."