Most patients (93%) say that the overall care they receive in hospital is good, very good or excellent, according to a large survey published today by the regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
More needs to be done, however, to tackle persistent problems in areas such as help with eating and involvement in decisions.
The report from the CQC - the sixth national inpatient survey - is based on a survey of more than 72,000 inpatients carried out by 165 NHS trusts in England and found there were significant improvements in infection control and patients’ perceptions of clean rooms and wards.
Significantly more patients rated their hospital wards and bathrooms as “very clean” and more had noticed doctors and nurses washing their hands between patients.
In 2008, 74% of respondents said that, as far as they knew, doctors always washed or cleaned their hands between touching patients, up from 67% in 2005.
Similarly, 76% said nurses always washed or cleaned their hands between touching patients, up from 69% in 2005.
On cleanliness, in 2008, 95% of patients described their room or ward as either “very clean” or “fairly clean”, up from 93% in 2002.
The survey also highlighted persistent problems in important aspects of care, which prompted the CQC to call on the NHS to do more to ensure hospital food was consistently of good quality and that patients were sent copies of letters between hospitals and GPs.
Performance remained poor in other key areas such as help with eating, mixed-sex accommodation, involvement in decisions about care and answering call buttons.
Cynthia Bower, CQC chief executive, said: “We want to ensure that the voice of patients rings loud and clear in every NHS trust.
“It's great to see patients noticing improvements in cleanliness and hand washing. There are now real signs that the NHS is beginning to get to grips with infection control but it's important that trusts keep the momentum going.
“However, patients are clearly highlighting some persistent problems, in particular in some of the basics of care such as help with eating and involvement in decisions. It is a great shame that the NHS has not managed to get a stronger grip on these issues when patients have been highlighting them for so long.”