The Health Secretary made one final appointment before taking on his new job as Foreign Secretary.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt was joined by NHS England’s Chief Executive Simon Stevens to surprise staff at Northwick Park Hospital in Watford Road, Harrow.

Jacqueline Docherty, chief executive of London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (LNWH), said: “It was great having them both here and having the opportunity to tell them about the good work the trust is doing.

“This includes LNWH having one of the lowest mortality rates in the UK and reducing the number of trust acquired pressure ulcers by 60 per cent last year.”

Visiting over the weekend, Mr Hunt and Mr Stevens talked to more than 60 hospital staff about leadership and importance of using data more effectively.

Mr Hunt spoke about patient safety within the NHS and its drive for greater transparency and change across the service.

Staff raised questions about several issues including workforce planning, the importance of IT in improving quality of care and what safe care actually looks like.

Senior pharmacist Sunil Dabasia also met with the health secretary after the meeting to discuss the trust’s innovative bilingual medicine labelling initiative, which allows patients to have their pharmacy labels both in English and in their preferred language.

The Trust was the first hospital in the country to introduce bilingual medicine labelling. It is currently available in nine languages including Arabic and Polish, reflecting the area’s population.