Hospitals win praise – from their patients

CLEANLINESS, privacy, dignity and food on the wards at Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have been rated highly as part of the latest patient-led assessments of hospital facilities across the NHS.
This is the second time the hospitals have been rated under the national Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment (PLACE) visits.
The assessments are carried out by local people going into the hospital to assess standards around cleanliness, the condition and appearance of buildings, privacy and dignity of patients and the quality and availability of food and drink.
The trust scored well across the board with both hospitals improving their scores in each category compared to last year’s results.
Both hospitals saw significant improvements in their scores for condition, appearance and maintenance of buildings. It follows a year that has seen major new maternity and dementia facilities opened at Warrington, a revamp of the hospital main entrance facilities and the new Macmillan Delamere Unit re-open at Halton General after a £1m refurbishment.
The PLACE scores are: Warrington Hospital: Cleanliness: 99.42 per cent (up 2.58 per cent) Food: 87.92 per cent (up 2.47 per cent); Privacy, dignity and wellbeing: 90.20 per cent (up 1.01 per cent); Condition, appearance and maintenance: 95.35 per cent (up 9.19 per cent).
Halton General: Cleanliness: 98.48 per cent (0.45 per cent); Food: 90.61 per cent (0.68 per cent); Privacy, Dignity and Wellbeing: 91.02 per cent (up 2.09 per cent); Condition, appearance and maintenance: 94.91 per cent (up 5.19 per cent).
Mel Pickup, chief executive at Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We’re delighted to receive such good scores in all the criteria. What’s most important is that these scores are direct from local people who’ve come in to look at our facilities.
“The PLACE scheme allows us to see things through the eyes of patients and provides feedback about how the hospital environment might be enhanced. Our scores are right up there with even the newer hospitals which is great to see. It shows the quality of the services that we are providing to support good patient care in our wards and departments. We put a lot of work and investment into continually improving our facilities and taking on board patient feedback on food and the environment.”