BASILDON Hospital has been named one of the safest in Britain, according to the latest figures released by the NHS.

The trust has been ranked 13th out of all 140 non-specialist hospitals for successfully reporting incidents.

It comes just three years after the National Reporting and Learning System, which compiles the list, rated Basildon Hospital as the second worst performing trust in the country.

Bosses at the hospital, in Nethermayne, began making incident reporting a priority after being plunged into special measures in July 2013 because of concerns about high mortality rates.

Some are investigated as serious incidents, with senior doctors using them to learn lessons and improve patient care across the whole hospital.

For the first time, more incidents which could result in harmare reported by Basildon Hospital than most other trusts, putting it way above the national average. Diane Sarkar, director of nursing, said: “We have made great strides in the past two years in creating a culture where staff feel they can report incidents which might affect patient safety. This allows us to take the necessary steps to ensure it does not happen again.

“Sadly, all health care is subject to the risk of something going wrong. What is important is that we learn lessons and ask ‘Could we have done that differently?’, and if so, what lessons can we learn?

“Our hospital is safer than ever because staff feel empowered to do the right thing.”

The latest figures relate to April to September, 2014.

Since 2013, the number of reported incidents at Basildon has risen from between 100-200 a month to about 1,000 a month.

The trust was removed from special measures in June 2014 after the Care Quality Commission rated it as good.