PEOPLE in Craven are invited to tell the Care Quality Commission (CQC) about the care provided by Airedale NHS Foundation Trust ahead of a routine inspection next month.

The inspection team from the health and social care watchdog will be visiting Airedale Hospital near Steeton and its teams in the community during the week of March 15.

As part of the inspection, people are being asked to share their experiences of care, and those of family and friends, from the trust by giving their feedback and views before the end of February.

Airedale NHS Foundation Trust was last inspected in 2013 when it received positive feedback. It did not receive a formal rating on that occasion as the hospital had been selected to help test out the newly-introduced hospital inspection regime.

Karl Mainprize, medical director at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We look forward to welcoming the CQC inspection team to the trust.

“Although our last inspection was on the whole a positive one, we are not complacent and welcome this opportunity to see where we can improve our care for our patients, as well as showcasing some of the fantastic work our staff do.”

The inspections, which are carried out by a mixture of inspectors, healthcare professionals, and experts by experience, will assess whether the service provided by the trust overall is: safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent health and adult social care regulator. Its job is to check whether hospitals, care homes, GPs, dentists and services in peoples’ homes are meeting national standards.

People can have their say in a variety of ways. Visit the CQC website - http://www.cqc.org.uk/syeairedale/?social - and use an online form, call 03000 61 61 61, email enquiries@cqc.org.uk or via twitter by using #talktoCQC.

To help the inspection team collate this information, people are asked to include the name of the ward and service eg: ward 21, maternity services.