12 October 2011
A national survey, which sees patients and members of the public inspecting hospitals across the country, has shown that Epsom Hospital is offering local people high standards in food, the hospital environment and levels of privacy and dignity.
Figures from this year's PEAT (Patient Environment Action Team) assessment show that Epsom scored highly across a number of standards, and was awarded an 'excellent' for food, 'good' for environment, and 'good' for levels of privacy and dignity.
The survey looks at a range of factors that could affect a patient's experience during their stay at the hospital, including cleanliness, the quality and accessibility of bathroom facilities, how we promote infection control and prevention standards and the hospital environment itself: from how bright the hospital is to how it smells. The survey also takes into account factors outside of the buildings, such as how easy the hospitals are to access and our car parking facilities.
Pippa Hart, Director of Nursing said: "We are absolutely committed to providing each and every one of our patients with high quality care in a clean and welcoming environment, and I am delighted to see that the inspectors have scored us highly for another year running.
"The PEAT assessment is extremely thorough, so these results are definitely something to be proud of. And the fact that patients and local people are involved in the inspections makes them even more important."
Head of Environmental Support Services, Jane Ward said: "We are delighted to have been rated so highly in the PEAT assessment. Across our hospitals, a dedicated team of more than 200 cleaners help to ensure we sustain the highest levels of cleanliness, whilst a team of 35 maintenance support workers help us to keep the hospital's environment up to scratch at all times.
"We work hard all year round to maintain these standards, so it is really pleasing to see that recognised by the PEAT assessment team."
The assessment teams consist of patients, patient representatives and members of the public. They are also made up of NHS staff, including nurses, matrons, doctors, catering and domestic service managers, executive and non-executive directors and dieticians.
Epsom resident, Madeline Boissiere, was one of the patient representatives on the assessment team. She said: "When the PEAT assessment team go into a hospital, we're looking at the cleanliness and overall environment of the hospital through the eyes of a patient. It's our chance to tell staff what we think could be improved and what is working well for the people that they are caring for.
"As a former patient, I have always found Epsom to be a very pleasant hospital, it's always clean and the food is always very good."
The Patient Environment Action Team programme was established to assess NHS hospitals in 2000, and has been managed by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) since 2006. Under the programme, every inpatient healthcare facility in England with more than ten beds is assessed annually and given a rating of 'excellent', 'good', 'acceptable', 'poor' or 'unacceptable'.
