The turnaround in the finances of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust has been truly amazing.

Alarm bells began to ring when the deficit soared to £40m at the start of the last financial year.

Now just 12 months later, it has been trimmed to a respectable £3m.

It will be surprising if major companies are not queuing up to find out how it has been achieved.

Much of the credit goes deservedly to staff, many of whom have worked without pay to put the trust on a sound financial footing.

Nearly half the employees at Oxfordshire's four major hospitals worked up to five hours unpaid overtime every week. Others worked as much as 10 hours extra.

It says much for the dedication of NHS staff that they are willing to put in so much effort for no reward.

The trust's managers have clearly played a major part by pursuing every avenue to save money and cut costs.

But the pruning of a deficit on this scale could not have been achieved without the wholehearted support of everyone in the organisation.

What a wonderful team effort.