HEART patients from Swindon are more likely to survive bypass surgery if they are sent to Bristol Royal Infirmary than Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, according to a new survey.

Latest figures from independent healthcare publisher, Dr Foster, suggest that heart patients can look forward to a better quality of treatment at Bristol rather than at Oxford.

United Bristol Healthcare trust comes out top in The Times Hospital Consultants' Guide, with a standardised mortality ratio of 48 compared to 115 for John Radcliffe Hospital. The national average is 100.

The guide of 29 hospitals is the first in which mortality rates for NHS trusts have been compared.

It was based on analysis of data supplied by the Department of Health.

The guide is good news for United Bristol Healthcare, which was heavily criticised by the Kennedy Report into the deaths of babies at Bristol Royal Infirmary.

Nicholas Bishop, medical director at United Bristol Healthcare Trust, said: "We're delighted to be able to be recognised as being good for heart surgery. It reflects credit on the surgeons and the whole team."

But staff at John Radcliffe Hospital say the figures paint a distorted picture.

Hospital spokeswoman Sarah Croke explained: "John Radcliffe's reputation as a centre of expertise means that we do tend to get a higher than average number of very difficult heart cases. This obviously has an effect on our mortality rates.

"Generally it can be said that the best surgeons attract the sickest patients."

In a few decades, heart bypass surgery has moved from being at the leading edge of heart surgery to become a virtually routine procedure.

There are two procedures used for coronary heart disease which is the UK's biggest killer, claiming 135,000 lives every year and can greatly prolong the lives of sufferers.

One takes a vein from the leg and uses it to bridge the blockage, while the other re-routes the mammary artery in the chest to achieve the same result.