A hospital at the centre of the scandal into the retention of children's organs has been praised for the support it gives to dying youngsters and their families.

Inspectors commended Alder Hey Hospital, in Liverpool, for its support for terminally ill children and their carers.

The report, by the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI), said the rest of the NHS could learn from the hospital's example.

But problems were highlighted in the hospital's casualty and outpatients' areas.

Inspectors praised the "child-friendly" approach

Alder Hey's relationship with parents suffered during the organ retention scandal.

It emerged that the body parts of dead children were routinely kept without the knowledge of their families.

Now though, the hospital's bereavement care scheme - which supports the parents or carers of dying children - has been singled out for praise by the inspectors.

Officials said the NHS could also learn from another scheme at the hospital which allows up-to-the-minute access to the latest medical research.

This aims to to speed up research into life-threatening childhood illnesses and improve patient care.

Improvements had also been made in introducing a more child-friendly approach and reducing unnecessary appointments in casualty, the report said.

Older children though did suffer from a lack of dedicated facilities.

The report's authors have called for urgent action to improve the "environment" of the A&E and outpatient areas.