Guy's and St Thomas' performs well in patient-led assessments

Guy’s and St Thomas’ has been rated above the national average in five out of six categories of the Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment (PLACE) – results were published by NHS Digital on Wednesday 10 August.

Teams of patient assessors and staff visited Guy’s Hospital, St Thomas’ Hospital and community health centres including the Amputee Rehabilitation Unit in Kennington, Minnie Kidd House in Balham, and Pulross Intermediate Care Centre in Brixton.

More than 50 patient assessors, together with staff, undertook assessments between March and May this year.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ scored above the national average in the following areas:

•  99.4% for cleanliness (national average 98.1%)
•  91.9% for food and hydration (national average 88.2%)
•  86.5% for privacy, dignity and well-being (national average 84.2%)
•  93.9% for the condition, appearance and maintenance of facilities (national average 93.4%)
•  77.6% for dementia-friendly environment (national average 75.3%)

The Trust scored just below the national average – 78.2% compared with a national average score of 78.8% – for a new measure considering how well healthcare environments support the provision of care for people with a disability.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ is committed to ensuring that our premises are accessible to people with a disability,  and we will be using the findings from PLACE to help us focus on the improvements we need to make through the Trust’s accessibility working group.

Peter George-Jones, Chief Operating Officer of Essentia, Guy’s and St Thomas’ capital, estates, facilities and IT directorate, says: “We are delighted that the Trust has scored so highly in these crucial areas of hospital cleanliness, food, environment, privacy and dignity.

“We know that we have areas for further improvement and, by undertaking these assessments and including our patients in that process, we have gained real insight into what is important and how we can do better.

“As a result, we will devise plans that reflect the comments made and advice given so that we can maintain and improve the high standards we aim for across the Trust.”

Full results are available at www.digital.nhs.uk/pubs/place16.