A watchdog's inspection of the West Suffolk Hospital has found it is meeting essential standards, but has suggested some improvements are made.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited the Bury St Edmunds hospital on October 4 for a routine 'review of compliance'.

Inspectors spoke to patients and families, as well as carrying out their own observations on wards.

They found that the hospital was compliant, but voiced minor concerns in three areas - care and welfare of patients, nutrition and cleanliness and infection control.

The inspection report said: 'People we spoke with told us that they were well informed regarding their treatment and

care. They told us that staff consulted them and that they were involved in decision making about their care needs.'

Inspectors added: 'People spoken with were all complimentary about the staff across the hospital. Whilst they

said that the staff were busy at times, they did not get the impression that they were short staffed, however on occasions it would be a 'long time' before actions were completed by staff.'

The inspectors said the hospital needs to address delays in patients receiving their take home drugs in a timely manner and hospital staff do not always explain the individual treatment programme in sufficient detail for the patient to understand, and staff are at times too busy to respond to patient requests in a timely manner.

They noted that some occasions meals are left to go cold as all courses were served together, individual information about patient's nutritional needs was not always documented on the patient's information board and clinical waste was moved through a ward during meal service.

They also said public toilets were not appropriately cleaned.

Nichole Day, executive chief nurse at West Suffolk Hospital, said: 'We were really pleased with the overall results of our recent CQC inspection and the positive feedback which we received.

'The inspectors commended our professional, supportive and caring staff and highlighted some excellent practices taking place across the Trust. This included the help given to patients at meal times and our hand washing and toileting practices, while the way in which our staff communicate with patients and their understanding of hospital policies was also praised. We were also delighted with the positive comments our patients made to the inspectors about their experiences of receiving care at West Suffolk Hospital.

'We have already drawn up an action plan to address the three minor areas for improvement noted by the CQC, which includes amending the information given to patients on discharge so that they know where to go if they face complications. We have also reminded staff to monitor food temperature and keep thermal lids on desserts so that puddings remain hot until our patients are ready to eat them.'