PRESTON Acute Hospitals and Chorley and South Ribble NHS Trust have undergone a health check and received a mixed report.

The check, to make sure it is delivering the highest possible care for patients, was carried out by the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI). It concentrated mainly on the areas of diabetic patients, older patients and patients with head injuries.

The report has praised the hospitals' innovative approach to medicine, their humane treatment of patients and the strong leadership.

But areas which needed improving were patient involvement and consultation, care for diabetics and partnerships with outside agencies.

Professor Peter Morgan-Capner, acting chief executive of Chorley and South Ribble and the Preston Acute Hospitals NHS Trusts, said: "The CHI report on our trusts states that there are no areas that are a serious risk to patients' safety that require urgent action.

"It is very pleasing that the review team found that we treat our patients humanely and respect their dignity."

Other areas praised were the hospital food - which the inspectors thoroughly enjoyed - and the introduction of hospital gowns for Muslim women.

The report follows a Department for Health survey into the standards of decontamination for surgical instruments in the NHS which found standards "acceptable" at all three hospitals.

The survey followed advice from the Sponiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) that a key factor in reducing the theoretical risk of person-to-person spread of variant CJD -- the human form of mad cow's disease -- was to maintain a high standard of decontamination of surgical instruments.