Wandsworth’s local mental health trust scored poorly in a survey of its inpatients released this week.

In almost every area, patients’ ratings of South West London and St George’s Mental Health Trust were below the average for the country.

Particularly bad areas were hospital food and the amount of effort taken to keep patients in touch with family and friends.

Patients also rated their overall experience of the hospital as one of the worst in the country.

The survey, of 64 NHS Trusts in England, was the first ever published by the Care Quality Commission.

Questionnaires were sent to 654 service users from south west London aged 16 to 64, although there was only a 23 per cent response rate.

This week the trust said it was disappointed with the results, and said it often received complimentary feedback.

Chief executive Judy Wilson said: “The survey was conducted last year and a number of actions have already been taken to improve the inpatient experience.

“We have already opened the new Wandsworth Recovery Centre at Springfield University Hospital.

"The design of the new wards is light years ahead of its predecessors, with larger and more flexible activity spaces and we hope to continue to improve all our facilities in this way.

”We also carry out our own internal monitoring and had already picked up on some areas where we needed to improve.”

A Quality Improvement Programme is now taking place to improve patient experience, the environment and resources.

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