Birmingham's Selly Oak Hospital was the victim of a "reprehensible" smear campaign as it was falsely accused of mistreating wounded soldiers, an inquiry has concluded.
An investigation found that claims that it provided poor treatment to service personnel had damaged the morale of deployed troops, and the hospital's reputation in the city.
But the allegations were false - and the care offered by Selly Oak was so good that it could not be repeated anywhere else, the inquiry said.
The findings were published by the House of Commons Defence Committee.
The committee, chaired by Conservative MP James Arbuthnot (Con, North East Hampshire), quizzed ministers, senior military officers and doctors during a nine-month inquiry, and visited Birmingham to see Selly Oak.
The hospital, part of University Hospital Birmingham Foundation Trust, has treated Britain's military casualties since 2001, and currently receives injured servicemen and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the Ministry of Defence's decision to use Selly Oak was controversial because it involved the closure of a network of dedicated military hospitals.
The hospital was also the victim of a series of sensational reports in some newspapers, including claims patients had been ordered to remove their uniforms for fear of causing offence and had been verbally abused by visitors who opposed the war in Iraq.
The MPs said: "It seems clear that there has been much inaccurate and irresponsible reporting surrounding care for injured service personnel at Birmingham, and that some stories were printed without being verified or, in some cases, after the trust had said that they were untrue. We condemn this completely.
"The effect of such misrepresentation on the morale of clinical staff and service personnel and families was considerable. We consider the publication of such misleading stories as reprehensible."
The MPs said there was "almost unanimous praise for the clinical standards at Selly Oak".
They highlighted testimony from the Army Families Federation, which represents the spouses and other family members of soldiers.
Sammie Crane, the federation's chief executive, told the committee: "The feedback I have had is that the clinical care at Selly Oak is so good it could not be replicated elsewhere and therefore that it is the correct place to which serious casualties should be taken."
The inquiry also backed the decision to close dedicated military hospitals.
"The principle behind the decision to move from stand-alone military hospitals to facilities which co-operate with the NHS was the right one, from a clinical, administrative and financial point of view, and we see no evidence that the care offered to military personnel has suffered as a result."
