New findings published by the National Patient Safety Agency show greater numbers of hospitals are treating their patients in cleaner, better maintained environments. The Patient Environment Action Teams (PEAT) programme assesses all hospitals and inpatient units with 10 or more beds.
PEAT teams consist of nurses, matrons, doctors, catering, domestic service managers as well as groups of patients, their representatives and members of the public. They look at levels of cleanliness, some aspects of infection control (such as hand hygiene), the quality of the environment (such as decoration, maintenance and lighting) as well as the standard of food offered to patients.
Following the inspection, each hospital is given a score out of excellent, good, acceptable, poor or unacceptable.
The latest figures show 87% of NHS hospitals across England (1,084) have been rated “excellent” or “good” for their environment. In addition, 96% of NHS hospitals (1,143) achieved an “excellent” or “good” rating for the quality, choice and availability of food for patients. *
