OXFORD’S Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (NOC) treats older patients with “dignity and respect”, according to a health watchdog.

The Care Quality Commission is carrying out a review of dignity and nutrition for older patients at all hospitals in the UK.

On April 6, a team carried out an unannounced visit to the Oxford hospital, in Windmill Road, and interviewed patients, relatives and staff from different disciplines.

In a report released today, it said: “Patients at Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre were receiving good care, were being listened to, and had their privacy and dignity respected by staff who were knowledgeable about how to maintain this in practice.”

Patients who spoke to the team called it “a wonderful hospital with first-class care” and said the staff were “very good about explaining everything fully”.

They also complimented the wide range of food available.

Earlier this year, the hospital featured in a television expose about the standard of NHS food.

Freelance journalist Mark Sparrow told the Channel 4 Dispatches programme that although his care was ‘fabulous’, the food was so bad he set up a blog.

But the CQC review said patients had “a good choice of nutritionally balanced food and adequate portion sizes.”

It particularly commended the snack box scheme for patients who had missed a meal.

Jan Fowler, chief executive of the NOC, said: “This is a really positive endorsement of care at the NOC.”