Under a new initiative, the patients in England will soon be able to rate the hospital treatment received by them at various health facilities run by the NHS.

The new "friends and family test" ask the patients if they would recommended the hospital to their friends and family. The information from the tests will allow others to know which hospital is providing better care to the patients, according to the Prime Minister David Cameron.

The results of the test will be published and hospitals who fail the test will be held accountable. The Prime Minister announced that the test will be made available for wards across England from April 2013.

He believes that the tests will force hospitals to increase their standards.

The Nursing and Care Quality Forum had recommended in a letter to the Prime Minister that NHS should seriously consider what patients think about the quality of care they receive at hospitals.

Mr Cameron said, “To really make sure that patients get the right care, we're moving ahead quickly on one of their main recommendations - the friends and family test. In every hospital, patients are going to be able to answer a simple question, whether they'd want a friend or relative to be treated there in their hour of need.”

He also said that releasing the results in the public domain will allow people to determine where to get the best care and it will also force hospitals to work towards improving their standards.