Oxford's Nuffield Orthopaedic Hospital will apply to the Department of Health at the end of this week to be free of Whitehall control.

The hospital will learn in April if it has been successful in its bid for NHS Foundation Trust status.

NOC board members agreed on Monday the hospital in Headington should become a foundation trust.

Under the plan, both staff and the public will have a greater say in how it is run. A members' council will include places for 14 patients, four members of the public and eight NOC employees, to be elected.

After the meeting, NOC chief executive Ed Macalister-Smith said the main attraction of foundation status was not being able to set budgets but to become more efficient, thus boosting staff morale.

Critics claim foundation trusts will be the first hospitals to use the Government's new Payment By Results system, which means they are paid for the work they do.

This may force them to compete for patients with other hospitals, they say.

Mr Macalister-Smith said: "We aren't automatically going to become better off as a result of becoming a foundation trust. If we become a really exciting hospital, with lots of development, that might attract more work and bring more money."