Healthwatch visits to University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust as part of the PLACE programme
Our visits to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital, the Eye Hospital and various wards across the estate were part of PLACE or ‘Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment’. This report provides a summary of our observations from the visits. PLACE is delivered as a national programme, and all data is collected and formally analysed by NHS Digital. They will publish detailed reports after the programme has ended.
What is PLACE?
PLACE assessments focus on the environment in which care is delivered to people, such as hospital wards. It does not look at clinical care or how well staff are doing their job. PLACE visits were last carried out in 2022.
Good environments matter. Every NHS patient should be cared for with compassion and dignity in a clean, safe environment. Where standards fall short, this should be drawn to the attention of managers so that improvements can be made.
Assessments involve local people (known as patient assessors) going into local hospitals to assess how good the environment is.
What’s it like to be a patient assessor?
PLACE gives patients and the public a voice to have more influence over the way their local health and care services are run.
Our volunteers who are acting as patient assessors are given training and supported by Healthwatch, using materials produced by the NHS. They visit different wards, clinics and communal areas and assess how well patients’ privacy and dignity are respected, overall cleanliness and general building maintenance. They also look at the extent to which the environment can support the care of those with dementia or with a disability. Lastly, they undertake food tastings and, where possible, observe how meals are served to patients. You can read more about the PLACE programme by clicking here.
Thank you
Healthwatch would like to express its thanks to the Trust for inviting us to participate in PLACE. This allows us to assess the patient environment first-hand and share our observations.
“The report offers fantastic, credible, balanced insights into the experience of our patients attending our sites for care in a highly readable and accessible format – thank you. The report will be taken to the Trust’s Patient Experience and Engagement Group in March to be discussed and so that actions can be tracked. The report will also be shared with service leads. The Trust is already taking action in many of the areas identified. For example we will be carrying out routine audits of corridors, the feedback about natural light in the cancer centre is reflective of that we have had from other patients, and is shaping the designs for the new cancer centre and a new nutrition and hydration policy is under development to make clear expectations of staff with regarding to feeding.”
Where we visited
Ten trained volunteers visited the Royal Sussex County Hospital over three different days - Wednesday the 18th, Friday the 20th and Tuesday the 31st of October. The volunteers visited the Outpatients Department, the Maternity Unit, the Eye Hospital, the Cancer Centre, the Renal Ward (where they also conducted food tasting), the Royal Alexandra Children’s hospital, Cardiology Care Unit and the Emergency department (formally known as the Accident and Emergency department).
Outpatients Department - a summary of our observations
Two Healthwatch volunteers undertook this visit: thank you to Paul and Mazzie for their time and contributions.
Our observations
• Two check-in machines are placed facing the entrance to encourage patients to check in without visiting reception; this could possibly cause some lack of privacy, but the risk is minimal.
• There is a mix of different shaped and sized chairs in the reception area; the high-back chairs looked a little frayed.
• Dementia-friendly policies have been adopted where possible. There was good signage on doors with large numbers and different coloured (blue) door handles.
• The toilets inspected were all clean, with good hand washing facilities and signage.
• The flooring was of mixed quality and types, it was generally old but clean as far as possible.
• Overall, the cleaning regime was very efficient, and the staff have worked hard to make a friendly environment.
Areas that we flagged as requiring attention:
• The lighting was of mixed quality; some of the consulting rooms seemed a bit dark.
• There were some signs of water ingress through glass roof lights and walls of one consulting room we inspected showed major signs of water damage (the room was still in use).
• The fire escape for the first floor is via a flat roof, which is unsuitable for patients with limited mobility or phobias.
