Ratemyhospital.ie gives patients and relatives a chance to vote for hospitals on subjects from facilities like car parking and catering to medical areas like hygiene and quality of care.

St John’s Hospital had an average score of 82% while the Mid-Western Regional Hospital gained only 56% and 39th place out of 47.

St Munchin’s Maternity Hospital got an average of 50% and 46th place.

It should be noted that different numbers of people rated each hospital for averages to be obtained with bigger hospitals gaining more feedback.

The Mid-Western Regional Hospital also has a surgical ward closed for a time and the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) has claimed that staff in the Accident and Emergency Department have been overstretched at certain times.

St John’s also topped a poll asking patients to choose a hospital that they would return to in the future while the other two hospitals were rated at 40 (St Munchin’s) and 43 (Regional Hospital).

The recruitment freeze on temporary and permanent staff is set to continue for at least another month as the HSE struggles to save up to €200 million.

The other top rated hospitals in the country for patient impressions on staffing were: Temple Street Children’s Hospital in Dublin, Mallow General Hospital, Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin and St Michael’s Hospital in Dun Laoghaire.

Under most categories, Ratemyhospital.ie asked patients to give a one to five rating, where one is ‘poor’ and five is ‘excellent’ and since the site was set up as part of irishhealth.com nearly 9,000 people have rated hospitals online.