UNACCEPTABLE variations in hospital care exist across the country with the quality of treatment patients receive dependent on where they live, the health service watchdog said today.

The Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) said overall hospital care across England and Wales had significantly improved in the four years it had been reviewing services.

But its report said areas which really mattered to patients, such as being treated in safe and clean environments and having privacy and dignity, still varied widely.

CHI said it was also concerned that hospital care generally could vary "enormously" depending on which hospital you went to and where you lived - the so-called postcode lottery.