PATIENTS of a Swindon health trust have painted a gloomy picture of the care they received and the food on offer.

NHS rankings, based on patient responses to surveys published today, have seen Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust, which runs services at the Great Western Hospital, Savernake Hospital, in Marlborough and Fairford Hospital, perform badly.

The figures placed the trust 141 of 165 hospitals in terms of patient care, 110th in food quality and 88th in offering same-sex wards.

However, Great Western Hospital spokesman Chris Birdsall said the GWH had already begun responding to the survey, conducted in July 2007, by bringing in improvements.

He said that although the trust was frustrated by the findings, policies had been put into place to improve categories that had room for improvement.

These areas include food nutrition, delayed response to call bells, environment cleanliness, staffing shortages and privacy and dignity.

He said: "The findings of the survey were disappointing.

"The survey was taken back in July 2007 when a total of 472 out of the 64,000 inpatients we saw during the year completed the survey.

"We always welcome patient feedback as it helps us to shape and improve our services.

"We were obviously concerned about some of the issues raised.

"In a number of areas we scored very well and we will be building on those successes as well as addressing the areas where we need to improve."

He said some of the positive areas from the survey included confidence in the trust and doctors and nurses working well together.

Mary Wilson, the former chairman of the Public and Patient Involvement Forum, a hospital group funded by the trust, said that although she agreed things were getting better, there was more to do.

She said: "My reaction is that GWH has made big steps to make things better than they were when this survey was completed.

"Since last year things have been improving.

"However, I also believe there needs to be more improvements in lots of other areas.

"It seems that there is a lack of nursing staff.

"More nurses are needed in areas that contain the elderly."

Mr Birdsall also said that since the survey improvements had been carried out, including recruiting more volunteers to help patients at meal times and an agreement to answer call bells more promptly.