The trust provides services from Royal Surrey County Hospital and adult community health care services from Cranleigh Village Hospital, Haslemere Hospital and Milford Hospital.

Catherine Campbell, CQC deputy director for operations in the South, said: ‘We were impressed to find outstanding leadership at Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust during our inspection last year. The trust had an inclusive, positive culture which emphasised continuous learning and ultimately improved people's experiences.'

The CQC highlighted how the trust's leadership had developed services in response to patients' feedback, including a café for terminally ill young people, changing opening hours at its oncology unit and improving the design of buildings and pathways in its surgery department.

The trust's active engagement with local providers on an effective care system and offer of professional development opportunities to all staff also won praise.

Group chief executive of Royal Surrey and Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trusts, Louise Stead, said: ‘Royal Surrey County Hospital received an outstanding rating last February, but Royal Surrey as a trust extends well beyond one hospital - it encompasses our community hospitals at Milford, Haslemere, and Cranleigh, and other community and satellite services. To now receive an outstanding rating for the whole trust is absolutely brilliant.

‘This is a proud moment of recognition for the entire Royal Surrey family and for leaders at every level - from those guiding wards, administrative teams, and services, to those providing strategic direction at board level. It's a celebration of leadership across the organisation.'

The overall outstanding rating for leadership follows the CQC's shift to a simpler, trust-level assessment rating.