National inspectors have this week praised standards for patients at Burnham-On-Sea’s War Memorial Hospital.
Every year, the Patient Environment Action Team (PEAT) publishes comparative information showing the standards across a range of patient services.
The inspection, which took place between January and March, checked the quality of non-clinical patient care, looking at standards in several key areas.
These include the hospital’s environment (including furnishings, cleaning standards and external areas), aspects of privacy and dignity, and the quality of patient food.
Each of England’s 1,242 hospitals is given a rating for its environment, food and privacy and dignity, ranging from ‘poor’ to ‘excellent’.
And Burnham has been rated as ‘good’ for environment, ‘excellent’ for its food and ‘good’ for privacy and dignity – the same as last year.
Edward Colgan, Chief Executive of Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are extremely pleased with this year’s PEAT scores which are a result of ongoing improvements to our wards, particularly with regard to privacy and dignity. Scores have generally shown improvement on last year, and we are aiming for an overall score of ‘excellent’ in the future.”
Full details of all Somerset’s Patient Environment Action Team Assessments 2011 can be found at the National Patient Safety Agency’s web site here.
Pictured: Burnham-On-Sea War Memorial Hospital, which inspectors have praised this week; and Julie Yates, the cook at the hospital
