Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment (PLACE) 2016
About Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment
Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment (PLACE) are a self-assessment of the non-clinical services which contribute to the environment in hospitals, hospices and independent organisations providing NHS-funded care in England.
The assessments look at cleanliness, the condition of the buildings, how well the buildings meets the needs of those who use it e.g. signage, car parking, the availability and quality of food and drink and how well privacy and dignity is supported by the environment.
The audits are undertaken by a combination of patients, the public and other bodies with an interest in healthcare such as Healthwatch, in partnership with the NHS Trust staff, using a range of criteria to identify how well the trust is performing and identifying areas for improvement.
The overall aim is to focus on what patients see and say.
What We Did
This is the third year that Healthwatch Hertfordshire (HwH) has formally written a report about the experiences of the HwH volunteers in the PLACE audits.
The aim for HwH was to have at least one HwH representative on the visits acting as an independent observer, utilising our trained Enter and View representatives as much as possible.
In 2016 there were a total of 40 visits where at least one HwH representative was present. In total 23 different HwH volunteers supported the visits.
We invited our volunteers to give feedback on their experiences at each of the Trusts to produce observations and recommendations on the PLACE process. This was to ensure a level of transparency and clarity of assessments across the Trusts and that other patient assessors on the visits felt supported to give full and honest feedback.
These audits took place from March 2016 to June 2016 and covered:
- Watford General Hospital
- Hemel Hempstead Hospital
- St Albans City Hospital
- Lister Hospital
- Mount Vernon Cancer Centre
- The Princess Alexandra Hospital
- Barnet Hospital
- Community in-patient wards
- Mental Health wards and units
What We Found
- The PLACE assessments have been carried out in a fair and transparent way and it has been good for Healthwatch Hertfordshire to have been involved in these assessments.
- The joint training event showed the willingness of Trusts to work together and try new ways to make PLACE an effective tool for patients and staff. It is evident that Trusts have worked hard to improve scores and continue to look at ways of meeting the high standards required by PLACE.
- There is however, an over reliance on using Healthwatch Hertfordshire volunteers as sometimes they were the only assessors on the visits. Trusts will need to ensure that they secure patient assessors representative of those that use their services for the 2017 audits.
I am sure the Trusts you are working with welcome and value your involvement… We recognise that training for Patient Assessors is a crucial aspect of the whole programme since it is their views which lie at the heart of it. I would also echo your comments regarding consistency.’
Read the full report here
If you require this report in another format, please get in touch.
