Aspiration to leave hospital and be worthy of work (7)
I believe the answer is:
operate
'work' is the definition.
('operate' can be a synonym of 'work')
'aspiration to leave hospital and be worthy of' is the wordplay.
'aspiration' becomes 'hope' (I've seen this before).
'to leave' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'hospital' becomes 'h'.
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'be worthy of' becomes 'rate' ('rate' can be a synonym of 'be worthy of').
'hope' with 'h' taken out is 'ope'.
'ope'+'rate'='OPERATE'
(Other definitions for operate that I've seen before include "Cut - run" , "Act, like a surgeon" , "man" , "Perform as surgeon does" , "Work as a surgeon" .)