Oxford's new casualty department has been named the UK's best-designed hospital building by the Department of Health.

The unit, at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Headington, welcomed patients for the first time in January and was officially opened by the Earl and Countess of Wessex.

It has now be highlighted as the best in Britain in the DoH Building Better Healthcare Awards, which were announced yesterday (Thursday, November 25) by Health Minister Lord Warner.

The department was part of a £14m redevelopment project, including the critical care research centre.

It was designed by architects YRM, with input from staff and patients, to ensure it provided a calm, quiet and organised environment.

About 100 patients visit the building every day - including about 25 children.

They are treated in a dedicated separate section of the department, called the Drayson Children's Emergency Department.

Sobell House hospice, at the Churchill Hospital, Oxford, was highly commended in the awards.

The building, which was funded jointly by the Sobell House charity and the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, was opened in January 2003.

ORH assistant director of estates Marion Fiddes said: "It's great that these two really worthwhile projects have been recognised in this way.

"I know a lot of work went into them - not just in terms of bricks and mortar, but in the way that staff have made them such good examples of how to deliver effective healthcare."