A Hampshire hospice has been handed a top award for the high quality of care it offers patients and their relatives.

Countess Mountbatten House in West End has been given Exemplar Status by University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.

The award, part of an initiative by the trust’s clinical accreditation team, recognises high quality and safe care of patients and looks at staff experience and the ward environment.

A hospice spokesman said: “We are the first within our trust to achieve an Exemplar Status - it will be proudly displayed in our hospice.”