Croydon Health Services rated top in South West London for cleanliness and maintenance of buildings
Croydon Health Services NHS Trust has been rated top in South West London for cleanliness and the condition, appearance and maintenance of its buildings.
The annual Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment (PLACE) look at cleanliness, food, privacy, dignity, general building maintenance and how well the hospital environment is able to support the care of those with dementia or disabilities.
In this year’s assessments, published by NHS Digital in August, CHS achieved a score of 98.83 percent for cleanliness and 94.83 percent for the condition, appearance and maintenance of its buildings – the highest scores among South West London acute hospitals.
Against the measure of how well the Trust meets the needs of people with dementia, CHS scored 85.15 percent which was the highest in the South West London region. The Trust also scored an impressive 94.83 percent for how well equipped it is to meet the needs of people with a disability which was the highest score among London’s 18 acute hospital trusts.
The assessments also show areas where the Trust can improve further. On food, the Trust achieved an average of 89.85 percent which was just below the national average of 90.2 percent. On privacy, dignity and wellbeing, CHS was rated at 80.44 percent which was below the average for England of 84.2 percent.
Allan Morley, Director of Estates and Facilities at Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, said: “We do have a lot of older buildings so are delighted to have achieved the best scores in South West London for how well we maintain our estate and for the cleanliness of our hospital environment.
“It is also essential that our environment is suitable for everyone to access the care they need, so we are very pleased with our excellent scores on how well we are equipped to meet the needs of people with disabilities and with dementia.
“There is always room for improvement and so we will look closely at how we can enhance our scores on food, privacy, dignity and wellbeing in next year’s assessments.”
PLACE assessments are carried out by health care staff and members of the public, who must make up at least half the team.