ON 18 March, the Care Quality Commission will be holding a “listening event” for members of the public to put across their views about local hospitals and health care, prior to hospital inspections taking place.

These events have been set up so that anyone who has received care from the Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust can go along and talk about their experiences. The meetings are intended to help the inspectors who will be looking at our hospitals, so they can decide which areas they should be looking at during their inspections.

It is a way to share feedback about the care which is being provided by our local Trust.

This is just part of a process by which the Care Quality Commission checks in detail on how hospitals, care homes and care services are meeting government standards in health care.

I welcome the opportunity offered by such meetings. There will be one meeting in High Wycombe, at the Memorial Hall, The Hub, Easton Street, High Wycombe, HP11 1NJ, at 6.30 p.m. It is possible to register to attend the meeting, online on www.cqc.org.uk, or by telephoning 03000 616161. However, it is also possible to attend the meeting without registering.

As a constituency MP I hear about the good and the bad in the National Health Service and I am glad that the CQC is giving people the chance to air their concerns or equally to express positive views about good practice.

One of the initiatives that is taking place within the health service is to ask whether individuals or members of their families would recommend the service to others – and health care professionals are also being asked that same question. Patients are much more involved now in their care and it is essential that there should be pathways for commenting about the provision of that care.