19 September 2013

Patient environment scores remain strong at city centre hospitals in 2013

University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust (UH Bristol) has scored above the national average in all areas of this year's Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment (PLACE) assessments.

Thousands of members of the public joined forces with NHS staff to lead the assessments which aim to provide a snapshot of how an organisation is performing against a range of non-clinical activities which impact on the patient experience of care - cleanliness; the condition, appearance and maintenance of healthcare premises; the extent to which the environment supports the delivery of care with privacy and dignity and the quality and availability of food and drink. 

The PLACE inspections were introduced in April 2013 to replace the former Patient Environment Action Team (PEAT) assessments which had been undertaken from 2000-2012. 

The assessments took place during April - June 2013 across 274 organisations, including every single NHS-commissioned building that takes patients for overnight stays. 

This year's PLACE scores for UH Bristol are: 

	UH Bristol organisation score	National average score
Cleanliness	98.12%	95.74%
Food and hydration	89.68%	84.98%
Privacy, dignity and wellbeing	90.04%	88.87%
Condition appearance	90.45%	88.75%

James Rimmer, Chief Operating Officer at UH Bristol, said: ""Whilst UH Bristol is above the national average for all of the measures reviewed by the PLACE assessment, we recognise that there is more we can do. The Trust has a significant construction programme underway to expand and improve our hospitals, and has a very clear programme to further improve the care elements covering cleaning, nutrition, and privacy and dignity."

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