A hospital trust once described as failing has been named one of the top performers in the UK.

The former Brighton Health Care NHS Trust has made it to a list of 40 top performers decided by NHS analysts CHKS.

Eastbourne Hospitals and Royal West Sussex trusts were also included.

The Brighton trust runs Royal Sussex County Hospital, the Sussex Eye Hospital, Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children and provides some services at Brighton General.

Hospital bosses said they were delighted with the accolade, which the trust has received for the second year running.

Director of nursing Karen Parsley said: "It is a reflection on the quality of the services our staff provide."

The list was compiled from 125 acute trusts, about 60 per cent of the total number in the UK.

CHKS chief executive Graham Harries said the list was not a league table but should be seen as "a club all hospitals will wish to join".

He said: "All the 40 top hospitals have achieved a high level of performance across the indicators, demonstrating their hospitals are well managed and focused on the needs of the patients."

The hospitals were judged using 15 indicators, including death rates, waiting times for treatment, length of stay in hospital and readmission rates after discharge from hospital.

Brighton was given a zero star rating by the Department of Health last year and its chief executive, Stuart Welling, only managed to keep his job by stepping up performances in three key areas.

These were for urgent suspected breast cancer referrals, the length of time patients waited in accident and emergency departments and outpatient waiting times.

Brighton has since merged with Mid Sussex to form the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and is expecting to perform well when the next ratings are published later this year.