West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has formally marked its new status as a teaching hospital.

Flags were raised across its hospital sites in ceremonies to recognise the landmark moment for the trust and its staff.

The trust achieved its "long-held ambition" to become a teaching hospital in December and the event on April 4 sees the trust formally renamed to include 'teaching'.

The title acknowledges the "dedication" of teams and individuals who have set the standard for many years delivering high quality teaching, learning, education and training across the workforce, the trust added.

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Chief people officer at the trust, Andrew McMenemy, said: "Gaining ‘teaching hospital’ status is a real pinnacle of achievement for the organisation demonstrating how much importance we place on the development of our workforce, providing training, learning and education opportunities for all our staff."

Teaching does not just take place in classrooms. A ward-based paediatric simulation training programme runs in clinical areas giving all staff the opportunity to participate; the critical care unit runs courses to upskill medics on wards; and student nurses on placement provide care while learning on the job.

The trust is linked with many partner academic institutions and is involved in training medical students from University College London (UCL) and St George's University in Grenada.

Teaching hospital status will help the trust to grow in this area and increase its research activity in collaboration with academic partners.

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Director of medical education, Dr Ashley Reece, said: "Research underpins excellent patient care helping us provide treatments based on reliable evidence of their effectiveness. It’s an important part of the ‘teaching hospital’ conversation and brings us to the forefront of medical and clinical developments."

Trust chief executive Christine Allen said teaching status is a "real badge of honour" while chairman Phil Townsend says it shows West Hertfordshire is an NHS trust "committed to the future".