WORCESTERSHIRE has been ranked as the best county in the country for quality of care.

The rankings, compiled by the organisation Trusted Care, are based on county by county industry regulator scoring.

The scoring combines the ratings of nursing homes, care homes and home care providers to give a collective view on local care services and how many of them are meeting industry standard.

In recent months, Worcestershire has been rated second or third for the assessment of care quality based on Care Quality Commission (CQC) ratings but has now moved clear in first place.

This is based on a 96 per cent outstanding/good rating across care services, which acknowledges the hard work of providers to ensure their customers receive good quality care.

Cllr Adrian Hardman, cabinet member with responsibility for adult services, said: "This ranking is fantastic news and great credit to the work done by the County Council's Quality Assurance team, working in partnership with NHS Worcestershire CCGs' Quality Team and our care providers. It is one of our priorities to promote health and well-being, ensuring Worcestershire residents are healthier, live longer, have a better quality of life and remain independent for as long as possible, and to be ranked top in the country is a wonderful achievement.

"The rankings are reviewed on a daily basis and our aim now is to continue to improve on the high standards of care provided in the County, and keep hold of the number one ranking."

Mari Gay, interim chief operating officer for the three Worcestershire CCG’s, said: "We’re delighted that the quality of care services in Worcestershire is ranked as the best in the country.

"A lot of hard work and dedication goes into offering the best services possible to our population and it’s pleasing to see this recognised on this scale.

"It’s important to ensure that Worcestershire continues to offer the best quality of care services that we can and try to remain in the number one spot.”

The rankings change regularly as the calculations access live data on the CQC website. For more information visit trustedcare.co.uk/care-map.