Improving the experience of patients in hospital is at the heart of a major drive being laid out by the Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon.

Everything from better hospital meals and cleaner wards to improved patient-doctor communication will be encouraged by the Scottish Government’s Quality Strategy.

Under the new plans Ms Sturgeon wants patients to become “partners in their own care”, with hospitals and GPs scored on their services. Questionnaires may be used to gauge what patients think of their experience and help tailor improvements.

The move comes amid concerns about patient care after cutbacks in the health service in coming years.

Ms Sturgeon said: “For patients, the strategy means increasing dignity and the right to expect clean wards and decent food when they are in hospital.”

The Scottish Government has given health boards two months to come up with ways to improve their quality of care. The strategy will focus on the “Six Cs” of patient care: compassion, communication, collaboration, cleanliness, continuity and clinical excellence.

Increased feedback from patients will play a key role in deciding how to improve GP and hospital services.

The strategy was unveiled at Drumchapel Health Centre in Glasgow yesterday, a surgery Ms Sturgeon called “a shining example” of good patient care” and among the first to use the Consultation & Relational Empathy questionnaire which patients are asked to fill in.

Dr Jane Turner, a former GP and executive director of the Scotland Patients’ Association, said: “The public have their own opinions. The trouble is they’ve never really felt they’ve had a say.”