Derriford Hospital standards rated below average in patient-led assessment
Plymouth's Derriford Hospital has been rated below average in each of four categories assessed by local patients, according to a report published by NHS England.
Standards of cleanliness at Derriford Hospital have been rated as 93.47%, according to the report by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC). The score, while signalling the hospital's serious efforts to ensure cleanliness around its wards and other area, falls a little behind the 95.74% average from 1,358 assessments completed across the UK's healthcare sector.
In the patient-led assessment, Derriford Hospital scored 77.80% for food and hydration (the average was 84.98%), 83.72% for condition, appearance and maintenance (average 88.75%) and perhaps most significantly 79.35% for privacy, dignity and wellbeing (against an average 88.87%), which the hospital has described as "lower than we would have hoped".
A team of ten patient assessors carried out a two day assessment at Derriford Hospital, looking at standards in the four key areas.
The new system for assessing the quality of the patient environment, Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment (PLACE), replaces the old Patient Environment Action Team (PEAT) inspections.
The team of patient assessors sent to Derriford Hospital was made up from members of Healthwatch Plymouth and a shadow governor. Supported by clinical and non-clinical staff from the Trust, they visited over 25 separate areas of the hospital, including wards, departments, entrances, public toilets and car parks following set criteria to complete their assessment. The team also sampled the patient’s lunch on five wards and spoke to patients on the wards to gain real-time feedback.
More being done to improve patient meals
Liz McGuffog, Service Lead for Hotel Services at Derriford Hospital, said: “This is the first year of the new patient-led assessment and it was very thorough. We are pleased that our cleanliness has been scored at 93.47% - this is a reflection of the hard work and dedication of our cleaning and nursing staff who work so hard to ensure a safe environment for our patients.
“Over the last year we have been working very hard to improve and enhance our patient meal experience. We have been working with our service provider Serco and have done much to improve and revamp our patient menus to enhance the nutritional intake for patients and provide healthy eating and energy dense food choices.
“We continue to work with our wards to ensure that meal times are protected, those patients who need it are offered help with eating, our red tray and lid systems are consistently implemented and the environment in which the meals are served is calm and relaxing.”
However, the assessment highlighted areas where improvements need to be made and plans are in place to further enhance the Trust’s meal service as follows:
- A new printed menu is being introduced to include large print and picture versions;
- A patient’s main course and dessert will now be served separately to improve meal temperatures;
- Investment in new crockery to improve the meal experience.
The hospital’s cleanliness score was marginally below the national average, this was mainly due to isolated cases of dust in ‘hard to reach’ places and cleaning schedules not being publicly available.
Upgrading wards
Kevin Marsh, Deputy Director of Nursing said: “We recognise that our privacy and dignity score is lower than we would have hoped. This is likely to have been driven by not having enough room around each bed in the six-bedded bays and not always having a dedicated room on a ward for patients and staff to talk in private.
“We have an ongoing programme of works to refurbish and upgrade our wards and we are continuing this ward by ward.
“In addition to this annual inspection, we do carry out regular surveys on our wards to capture real-time data and make improvements on the back of that.”
Karen Morse, Healthwatch Plymouth Manager said: “Healthwatch Plymouth was pleased to be involved in the recent PLACE Assessments at Derriford Hospital. Healthwatch representatives spent time talking to staff, patients and visitors during the two day visit and observed some excellent aspects of care.
"However, it is disappointing that despite this, results from the assessment are below the national average. Healthwatch Plymouth is looking forward to working closely with the Trust, to involve patients in improvements to the care environment.”
- The number of assessments undertaken across England was 1,358;
- The national average score for Cleanliness was 95.74%; the highest score was 100%, the lowest 24.46%
- The national average score for Condition, Appearance and Maintenance was 88.75%; the highest score was 100%, the lowest 36.25%
- The national average score for Privacy, Dignity and Wellbeing was 88.87%; the highest was 100%, the lowest 52.26%
- The national average score for Food and Hydration was 84.98%; the highest was 100%, the lowest 26.67%
