SIR, In reply to the article 'Patient raps hospital over 'wasteful' quiz' (Gazette, April 12), I would like to point out that it wasn't a 'quiz', it was a questionnaire to guage patients' views.

Privacy and dignity are the benchmarks of government initiatives to improve care in hospitals and deliver the highest standards possible.

Although it may seem a trivial thing to those who have their own teeth, working as a nurse on the surgical ward I find that sometimes one of the patient's greatest worries is the indignity of being seen without their dentures; theatre staff would agree with this.

The media are always quick to bring poor care to public attention and the best way of ascertaining patient satisfaction is to find out directly from them.

I can understand why Mr Hogg might not see the relevance of the questionnaire but I think it quite irresponsible of Tim Collins MP to criticise the auditing of patients to improve privacy and dignity while they are in hospital.

It would be quite unrealistic to spend all the NHS resources on getting waiting times reduced and not putting anything in to improving patient care.

Once again, it would seem that the NHS just can't win!

Karen Mason

Holme