MOST Norfolk patients are able to go to the hospital where they want to be treated, a new report shows. The Department of Health's national patient-choice survey has found that 75pc of people in the NHS Norfolk area went to the hospital they wanted to, 18pc had no preference and 4pc did not get their choice of hospital.

MOST Norfolk patients are able to go to the hospital where they want to be treated, a new report shows.

The Department of Health's national patient-choice survey has found that 75pc of people in the NHS Norfolk area went to the hospital they wanted to, 18pc had no preference and 4pc did not get their choice of hospital. In Yarmouth and Waveney, 75pc also got their choice of hospital, 17pc did not mind and 7pc did not get their choice. In Suffolk, people had less strong feelings about where they were treated - 29pc did not mind, 63pc got their first choice and just 3pc did not get their choice. Nationally, 8pc did not get their first choice of hospital.

About half of people were aware that under new government rules, they are supposed to have a choice of hospitals anywhere in the country - 51pc in Norfolk, slightly higher than the national average, but significantly more, 78pc, in Yarmouth and Waveney, though the sample size of those questioned was much smaller - 60 compared with more than 1,000 in each of Norfolk and Suffolk.

Just over half in Norfolk said they were offered a choice, 60pc in Yarmouth and Waveney and just 24pc in Suffolk.

Cleanliness and low infection rates were given as the most common reasons for a choice of hospital, although in East Anglia where hospitals are usually miles apart, location is an important factor.