THE North-East's flagship hospital trust is also the best in the country, according to an independent survey.

The Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust won The Sunday Times Hospital of the Year title at the weekend.

The trust, which has had a difficult year since losing one of its three stars in official ratings last year, overcame competition from some of the best hospitals in England.

It performed well in ten out of 12 categories, impressing the judges in breast, lung, stomach and bowel cancer; strokes; hip fractures; diabetes; rapid assessment and treatment in accident and emergency; paediatric and renal.

The judges were particularly impressed at the 80 per cent survival rate for kidney transplants, one of the highest in the country.

The Newcastle trust includes the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle General Hospital and the Freeman Hospital.

In rankings for low patient mortality rates, hospitals in Northern and Yorkshire were graded as follows: 1 Airedale, 2 Harrogate, 3 Leeds, 4 Newcastle, 5 Bradford, 6 Calderdale 7 Northumbria, 8 North Tees and Hartlepool, 9 (equal) Scarborough and York, 11 County Durham and Darlington, 12 Mid-Yorkshire, 13 Hull, 14 North Cumbria, 15 Gateshead Health, 16 City Hospitals Sunderland, 17 South Tyneside. Mortality figures for South Tees Hospitals were not available.

The rankings were awarded by a group of independent experts.