The Royal United Hospital, Bath, is one of the lowest risk hospitals in the country, a new report published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) indicates.

The commission's report assesses the trust against 80 key indicators, each of which is classed as being ‘no evidence of risk’, ‘risk’ or ‘elevated risk’.

These indicators relate to the five key questions the regulator asks – are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?

As the RUH has been recently inspected its has not been assigned to one of the six risk bands as the CQC says that its new comprehensive inspections provide a definitive judgement for each organisation.

The RUH was visited as part of the first wave of new-style inspections in December, and it received a good report with inspectors saying it delivers safe and effective care.

A spokesman said the report reflects improvements made at the RUH and, if the CQC had given a banding, the risk score of three out of a possible 160 would put the in Band 6 - the lowest risk group.

Chief executive James Scott said: “We strongly believe that we are providing a safe, high quality level of care and are pleased that the CQC’s intelligent monitoring report recognises how well we are doing.

“The report, combined with the good report we received from inspectors last month, reflects the improvements we have made, and will continue to make, to ensure that we provide the highest standards of care.

"This is down to the hard work and commitment of our staff.”