Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has performed above the national average in six out of eight categories in the annual Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment (PLACE assessments), scoring 91.32 per cent compared to the national average of 85.2 percent in supporting patients with disabilities and 87.04 per cent, compared to the average of 83.66 per cent for those with dementia.
PLACE assessments focus on non-clinical aspects of healthcare settings, and cover food, cleanliness, privacy, dignity and wellbeing, building conditions, appearance and maintenance and how well the organisation supports patients with dementia and disability. Assessments are undertaken by teams made up of staff and members of the public and are vital in showing where the trust is performing well and where improvements can be made to improve the experience of patients.
The trust came under the national average in two categories. In organisational food the trust came out at 91.67 per cent, 0.5 per cent under the national average. The trust lost points for, amongst other things, not using digital ordering and only offering sandwiches for finger food. To tackle this, the trust is exploring the option of implementing a digital ordering platform and working with the Dietetics team to explore other options. The aim is to have this work implemented by the next PLACE assessment.
The trust also scored under the national average in the condition and maintenance category with an outcome of 93.28 per cent against the national average of 96.36 per cent, although there was a marked improvement of almost 2 per cent up from last year for Ashford Hospital. A full report of the comments raised are currently being assessed.
Louise Stead, Group Chief Executive of Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals and Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trusts said: “These great results show that our patients are cared for with compassion and dignity in a clean environment. The assessment also shows the areas where we have more work to do, and we already have plans in place to improve on these.
“Thank you to all our staff who go above and beyond to make the trust a clean and safe place to receive care. These results are thanks to their dedication and hard work. I would also like to thank all those who supported us by giving their time to access our hospitals.”
