Care environment at UHNM exceeds national average latest assessment shows

Latest figures from a national patient-led assessment shows the care environment at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM) exceeds the NHS national average.

UHNM is above the national average in all eight categories of NHS England’s 2023 Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment (PLACE) at both the Royal Stoke University Hospital and County Hospital in Stafford.

The annual assessments see local patient representatives go into hospitals to assess the environment in categories covering everything from overall cleanliness and building maintenance through to disability access and ward food.

Patient assessors who complete the inspections found the general condition of the Estate and its cleanliness at the Royal Stoke was at a “high standard throughout”, with “extremely friendly staff at such a great hospital”.

Whilst at County Hospital the standard of cleanliness, the estate and hospital food was “at a very high level”, with the “compassion and enthusiasm of the staff really standing out.”

Lorraine Whitehead, Director of Estates, Facilities and PFI at UHNM said: “Achieving above the national average across all eight elements of the PLACE assessments is testament to the hard work and dedication of all our teams at UHNM. It reflects our collective recognition of how vitally important our environment and our services are to patient care and experience, and to creating a great place to work for our staff”.

“I would like to extend my sincere thanks to staff at both hospitals, who should be enormously proud of the contribution that they have made, working in successful collaboration across multi-disciplinary teams. These results are extra special given it is the voice of patients that informs the scores.”

The 2023 PLACE scores for UHNM in full are below:

• Cleanliness Score: 99.98% (National Average: 98.10%)

• Food Score: 95.43% (National Average: 90.86%)

• Privacy, Dignity and Wellbeing Score: 91.71% (National Average: 87.49%)

• Condition Appearance and Maintenance Score: 99.85% (National Average: 95.91%)

• Dementia Score: 89.88% (National Average: 82.54%)

• Disability Score: 92.67% (National Average: 84.25%)