Patients in west Norfolk are being urged to share their views on the standard of care provided at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital ahead of an inspection by the health regulator.

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will be holding a listening event at the Dukes Head Hotel, in King's Lynn from 6.30pm on Tuesday and are inviting members of the public to tell them what they think of services.

The King's Lynn hospital was placed into special measures last year following concerns over low nursing levels and financial pressures.

England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Sir Mike Richards, said people's views and experiences would help inspectors decide what to look at when they inspect the trust. The formal inspection of the foundation trust will start on July 1.

The trust is being inspected under radical changes which have been introduced by the CQC and there will be significantly larger inspection teams than before, headed up by clinical experts.

The trust will be one of the first to be given one of the following ratings: outstanding, good, requires improvement, inadequate.

People are being encouraged to attend the listening events to find out more about the inspection process, to tell the team about their experiences of care and to say where they would like to see improvements made in the future.

Sir Mike said: 'The new inspections are designed to provide people with a clear picture of the quality of the services in their local hospital, exposing poor or mediocre care as well as highlighting the many hospitals providing good and excellent care.'

'We know there is too much variation in quality – these new in-depth inspections will allow us to get a much more detailed picture of care in hospitals than ever before.

'Of course we will be talking to doctors and nurses, hospital managers and patients at the trust. But it is vital that we also hear the views of the people who have received care at the trust, or anyone who wants to share information with us. This will help us plan our inspection, and so help us focus on the things that really matter to people who depend on this service.

The inspection team is expected to look into eight key service areas: A&E; medical care (including frail elderly); surgery; intensive/critical care; maternity; paediatrics/children's care; end of life care; and outpatients.