The chief inspector of hospitals in England, Professor Sir Mike Richards, is inviting members of the public to tell his inspection panel what they think of the services provided by the Royal United Hospital (RUH) in Bath.

The hospital received a damning report by the independent Care Quality Commission following an inspection in June.

The CQC found on some of the older people’s wards that staff did not know how much fluid vulnerable patients had consumed, a patient was left in a soiled bed for ten minutes and staff had four different systems for recording patient information.

As a consequence the CQC said the hospital needed to take action to meet standards in respecting and involving patients, care and welfare of patients and safeguarding patients from abuse.

The CQC will be returning to the hospital on December 5 as part of a new wave of rigorous inspections. This will involve a significantly larger inspection team comprising clinical and other experts and trained members of the public.

As part of that the CQC wants to hear from patients and the public about their experiences at the hospital and what improvements they would like to see made and is holding listening events.

These are on Thursday December 5 at 6.30pm - one at Bath Racecourse and the other at County Hall, Trowbridge.

Sir Mike said: "The new inspections are designed to provide people with a clear picture of the quality of the services in their local hospital, exposing poor or mediocre care as well as highlighting the many hospitals providing good and excellent care.

"We know there is too much variation in quality – these new in-depth inspections will allow us to get a much more detailed picture of care in hospitals than ever before.

"Of course we will be talking to doctors and nurses, hospital managers and patients in the hospital. But it is vital that we also hear the views of the people who have had care at the Royal United Hospital, or anyone who wants to share information with us. This will help us plan our inspection, and so help us focus on the things that really matter to people who depend on this service.”

People who wish to attend the listening event are asked to fill in an online form at www.cqclisteningevents.org.uk or call 03000 61 61 61. This will help with planning for the event, but people are free to turn up on the evening even if they haven’t registered.

Anyone who is unable to attend the listening event but wishes to give their views to the inspection team can do this by email to enquiries@cqc.org.uk Sir Mike has identified 18 NHS trusts representing the variation of care in hospitals in England. These will be the first hospitals to test the new inspection regime. Six trusts are a priority for inspection because they have high risk scores. There are a further six that the CQC’s model has identified indicates as low risk. Six others fall between these extremes, including the RUH.