Airedale Hospital registered a strong performance in a national survey of patients' opinions.

The Listening to Patients survey was carried out between September 2007 and January 2008.

Airedale NHS Trust received a total of 460 completed questionnaires.

Director of nursing, Bridget Fletcher, told the latest trust meeting that the hospital scored particularly highly in areas such as cleanliness, food, provision of single sex accommodation and waiting times.

She added Airedale performed less well in areas such as offering patients a choice of hospital or admission date, and providing information to patients before and after operations.

Non executive director, David Adam, asked whether the hospital had a process for keeping patients informed of their status after they have received treatment.

Miss Fletcher agreed that such a process should exist, but acknowledged patients were not always given enough information about their condition following operations.

* Chief executive Adam Cairns praised hospital staff for coping with an unusually heavy workload over the winter period.

He said a surge in admissions since the end of December had put a lot of pressure on the accident and emergency department.

Director of corporate development Ann Wagner said that one day in January saw 59 admissions to A&E, compared with an average of about 30.