THE Commission for Health Improvement has turned its attention to South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust and wants to hear from the region's patients.

Independent health watchdog CHI published its report on Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust last month.

It is now sending questionnaires to 850 randomly selected patients registered with GPs in the south of the county to find out about health services managed by the PCT.

These include community and hospital services. The PCT is responsible for buying services from hospitals and looking after many of the region's health facilities.

Gillian Goodlad, the PCT's director of modernisation and primary care, said the survey was being organised by NOP Research on their behalf.

"We are trying to discover what patients think about their local community health services," she said.

"Obtaining feedback from patients and taking account of their views and priorities is vital for bringing about improvements in the quality of care."

She said participation in the survey was entirely voluntary, and nobody's care would be affected if they chose not to take part.

"We are keen that patients who are selected will take the time to complete the questionnaire so that if there are gaps in health care provision, we can make improvements.

The 12-page questionnaires must be completed by Friday, May 9.

CHI will publish the results later this year, along with a national report. The results will also affect the PCT's performance rating for 2003.

The PCT is also currently consulting the public on its proposed service cutbacks. These have been made necessary by this year's overspend of more than £5m.

Among the proposals are plans to scrap the region's counselling service, as well as withdrawing funding for practice-attached social workers.