The trust achieved a 14% improvement in its 18-week referral to treatment performance between April and September this year, making it the most improved during this period.

Health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, said: ‘NHS staff and leaders at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust are leading the way to a brighter future for the NHS, so I want to recognise and reward their excellent work.'

SaTH also cut the proportion of patients waiting over 52 weeks for planned care by 92% and reduced the overall waiting list by 10,000 patients – including a reduction in the number of children waiting for treatment by 40%.

This has been achieved by focusing on improving access to diagnostics to support earlier diagnosis and treatment. The trust has also maximised the number of operations taking place in theatres, increasing from around 1,200 a month to 1,600 – as well as increased the number of outpatients appointments and boosting productivity.

The NHSE funding will be invested in additional inpatient and acute assessment capacity at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford as well as new equipment for diagnostics, theatres and outpatients.

Ned Hobbs, chief operating officer, said: ‘We are incredibly proud of the progress we are making, and of the hard work of our clinical and operational teams who have worked together to drive improvements to reduce the length of time our patients are waiting for treatment.

‘While we recognise there is much more for us to do so every patient has access to timely NHS care, we are moving in the right direction. We are determined to build on our progress and are investing in additional urgent and emergency care capacity, and new equipment to further enhance productivity in outpatients, diagnostics and theatres.'