AIREDALE NHS Trust is giving patients at local hospitals the chance to air their views on the service they have received.

A routine assessment is to be conducted by the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) and will cover the Airedale NHS, which includes the Coronation Hospital in Ilkley, as well as Airedale General Hospital, and the Bingley, Castleberg and Skipton Hospitals.

The appraisal, known as a clinical governance review, will take 24 weeks to do and will look at the management provision and quality of general services provided by the trust.

It is part of a rolling programme which will see a CHI team visiting every NHS trust and primary care group or trust, and they will strive to identify and share good practice. The CHI was set up by the Government to improve the quality of patient care in the NHS across England and Wales.

The programme aims to reduce unacceptable variations in care and ensure that every NHS patient receives a high level of care and the patient's experience is at the heart of CHI's work.

Part of the assessment process will include a series of meetings to gain information from both patients and carers.

People who have views on Airedale NHS will need to call the CHI to arrange for an interview time and towards the end of the process stakeholders will be able to ring an info line if they have something to say about the service, good or bad. Where there is room for improvement, the CHI, which is an independent body, will work with the trust to set about objectives and bring about changes.

The assessment will be carried out by a trained team that includes an NHS doctor and nurse, a clinical professional, a lay person, an NHS manager and a CHI manager, who co-ordinates the process.

Trust staff, local people and organisations with an interest in the NHS will be asked to comment on issues they believe to be relevant to the assessment and a report will be published and made public at the end of the scheme.

CHI Chairman Dame Deidre Hine said: "The patient's experience of care lies at the heart of CHI's work. We aim to improve standards of care by focusing on the experience of those using the NHS. We want the NHS to see itself as the patients see it. Sometimes that process will be a painful one, but it is vital if we are to provide a better service."

Dr Peter Homa, Chief Executive of CHI said: "CHI is visiting Airedale NHS Trust to work with the trust to ensure patients receive a high quality service.

"Through our assessment we will identify good practice and we will highlight areas where the trust needs to take action so that patients receive constantly high standards of care."

Airedale Trust Chief Executive, Robert Allen, said: "We welcome this visit from the Commission for Health Improvement as we take pride in the quality of our services to patients and we wish to continue to improve. The work with CHI will help us to do that."