Teams of volunteer inspectors will descend on Bradford Royal Infirmary tomorrow to carry out annual checks – including the cleanliness of its wards.

Nearly 100 people, aged from 16 to 70-plus, applied to take part in this year’s assessment of the BRI and also later this spring of St Luke’s and the district’s four other community hospitals.

As well as checking how clean the wards are, they will be looking at the state and upkeep of buildings.

They will also be assessing the privacy, dignity and well-being of patients.

An appeal for volunteer inspectors went out after the Department of Health recommended all hospitals providing NHS-funded care should have a yearly assessment of the quality of non-clinical services and the conditions of their buildings.

Isla Dowds, patient and public engagement facilitator at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Found-ation Trust, said: “These assessments have to be patient-led, which means we need the views of a range of people who use the hospital – patients, relatives, visitors and carers, supported by hospital staff – to get involved and assess our wards and outside areas.”

Each of the volunteers have had a half-day training session. The inspections will last either half a day or a whole day, with the assessors working in small teams.

Miss Dowds said: “A minimum of half of each team will be members of the public, as we want to ensure that the views of the people who use our service are strongly represented. We also need staff on the team to help give context and liaise with the ward staff so that everyone is fully informed and supported during the inspection.”

The inspection results will be published in the summer and the Trust will ask its volunteers to review the report and help decide what actions it should take based on the findings.

e-mail: kathie.griffiths@telegraphandargus.co.uk