I have just read in today's Echo that the food in our county hospital is rated as 'good' - putting it into fifth place for best hospital food in the country.

I have been a patient in the Day Lewis Ward for the last 16 days and consider the rating of 'excellent' should be awarded for food served here.

The menus change daily with a choice of six or seven main dishes for supper; each is followed by four puddings or a cheese and biscuits.

Last night the presentation of my choice of 'steak and kidney pie with a variety of fresh vegetables and chef's cream potatoes' matched any item seen on the television programmes by master chefs.

My congratulations go to the catering staff and my thanks to the nursing staff who deliver the meals to my bedside.

John Green, Day Lewis Ward, Dorset County Hospital