BOLTON health services have been given the thumbs up from patients.

Royal Bolton Hospital, Darley Court Elderly Persons Home and Bolton Hospice have all been rated highly for food and cleanliness in this year’s Patient-led Assessment of the Care Environment (PLACE).

The assessment, run by NHS England, took place towards the end of April and start of May with ratings for cleanliness; food; organised food; ward food; privacy; dignity and wellbeing; condition, appearance and maintenance; dementia and disability.

The majority of the Bolton assessed facilities scored between 80 and 100 percent, with the lowest mark falling just above 68 percent.

Bolton Hospice scored 100 percent for its ward food and 99.75 percent for its cleaning. lts lowest mark was 78.02

The hospital scored 99.54 percent for cleaning, 93.16 percent for food and 97.76 percent for condition, appearance and maintenance, while the mental health facilities scored 99.81 percent for cleanliness, 87.58 for food and 95.96 percent for condition, appearance and maintenance.

Darley Court, which is run by Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and Bolton Council, scored 97 per cent for cleaning and 91.13 per cent for food, and 68.18 per cent for dignity and wellbeing.

A spokesman for Bolton Hospice said: "We are delighted to have scored highly in the assessment once again and well above the national average. Our score is a testament to the hard work and dedication our staff and volunteers show every day. We are especially pleased to have scored 100 per cent in the ward food area, our in-house catering team prepare and serve our patients traditional home-made food, using good quality fresh ingredients sourced locally.

"We are constantly striving to improve all areas and have been holding dementia friends training sessions for all staff and volunteers. At Bolton Hospice we put the patient and their family at the centre of everything we do, so we are especially pleased that patients themselves have rated the hospice environment so highly."

The inspection teams included members of the public and the results were validated by the PLACE assessor from Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

In the report to the Department of Health on the Royal Bolton Hospital, the assessors said: "The hospital is welcoming and has a good standard of cleanliness and maintenance.The food service is excellent. The PLACE assessors are pleased to observe the positive impact of improvements that have already been made and fully support the plans for the next phase of capital funding.

Of Darley court they observed that members of staff were "keen for the care environment to be improved and are actively involved in consultation and decision making".

Deputy Leader of Bolton Council, Cllr Linda Thomas, added: "Good environments matter. We want every patient to be cared for in a clean and safe environment and this assessment of Darley Court shows that we’re making the mark.

"But the hard work doesn’t stop here and the results will motivate us to improve even further."