OXFORDSHIRE’S main hospital trust has celebrated its first anniversary and its historic agreement with Oxford University.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust was created last November when Oxfordshire’s four hospitals – the John Radcliffe Hospital, the Churchill Hospital, the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury – merged to become a new ‘super trust.’

As well as creating one of the UK’s biggest healthcare providers, the new trust formalised the partnership between city hospitals and the university, which has roots going back 250 years.

Trust chief executive, Sir Jonathan Michael, believed the new trust had succeeded in delivering for patients and staff “a more robust, resilient and effective organisation.”

The Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust now wants to achieve Foundation Trust status in 2013.