A survey has shown care is improving at Epsom and St Helier hospitals, but is not among the best in the country.

The Care Quality Commission's NHS inpatient survey 2011 was based on feedback from 426 patients who used the hospitals.

Its findings showed 88 per cent of patients rated their care as good or excellent, and 96 per cent of respondents thought their room or ward was very/fairly clean.

Both results were an improvement on the previous year.

It also scored well for levels of privacy, and quality of food.

However the trust did not come among the best performing trusts in the country in any of the areas tested.

It performed as well as its rival trusts in the majority of areas.

Pippa Hart, Director of Nursing said: "As a Trust we treat more than 86,000 inpatients each year. "Keeping them safe and well cared for in a warm and welcoming environment is our absolute priority, and we are delighted to see that so many of our patients have rated their care highly and are pleased with so many aspects of the work that we do.

"The Care Quality Commission’s survey covers an array of different areas and we have made improvements in the vast majority of them, including one of the most important questions, which is how patients rated their overall care."

Croydon University Hospital was the worst performing in the survey of trusts taking part in the NHS Better Service, Better Value Review which will decide which hospital in south west London loses its accident and emergency and maternity services.

It performed worse than rival trusts in eight out of 10 main areas tested.

To view the full results of the inpatient survey, including how we compare with our local hospitals, visit epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk/inpatientsurvey.