National Dignity ambassador Sir Michael Parkinson has visited Weston General Hospital to tour its wards and hear about future plans.

Sir Michael became ambassador of the Government's Dignity in Care campaign last year, which aims to put dignity at the heart of care services.

Since taking on the role he has visited various care settings and has spoken with dignity champions, who promote the best ways of working and patients.

On Monday he visited Weston General on the invitation of staff nurse Jayne Biddiscombe who he met when she became the 3,000th NHS dignity champion.

Jayne invited Sir Michael to see the trust's improvements made to ensure all patients are given appropriate privacy and dignity and to hear about its future plans.

These include a refurbished emergency department to ensure better privacy, as at present the reception area is overheard by waiting patients.

During the visit Sir Michael met Weston Area Health Trust's 10 dignity champions.

He also met patients, who told him of their experiences during their stay.

Sir Michael became involved in the campaign after seeing the treatment his mother, who had dementia, received before she died in hospital.

He said: "My mother died in hospital, she had dementia and before that she received care in a care home.

"There were moments which lacked dignity and what I saw affected me profoundly.

"She was patted on the head and called 'deary', which was patronising.

"I was asked to front up Dignity in Care, which is aimed at patients.

"The NHS is our business, we pay for it and we should be proud of it but we should attack it when it is going wrong."

Of his visit to Weston, Sir Michael said: "I have been impressed by the standards of people I have met and the attitudes they have.

"The overall feeling I have of Weston General is as an effective friendly place and it is trying hard to deliver a service.

"I have enjoyed my visit, it has been interesting and I was impressed by the Cheddar ward, a showcase ward. I nearly booked a bed as the ward has a lovely sense of space and lighting and was a single sex ward.

"Dignity is about being treated as an individual with respect and compassion.

"It is about not having a mixed ward, people need to have privacy and in a busy ward privacy can become a problem."

Trust chief executive Lorene Read said: "Today's visit gave Sir Michael an honest appraisal of our situation regarding privacy and dignity issues and showed him our serious and exciting plans for improvement and we hope that one day he will come back to see them completed.