Thumbs-up for hospital services

Cannock and Stafford hospitals got a clean bill of health from patients and staff in an annual spot check.

The Patient Environment Action Team survey looked at patient environment and cleanliness, hospital food and privacy and dignity.

Stafford and Cannock Chase Hospitals were awarded a rating of good for patient environment and cleanliness and hospital food. And the panel gave privacy and dignity at the hospitals an 'acceptable' rating. The Patient Environment Action Team assessments look at standards across a range of patient services.

From this they give hospitals an overall performance rating.

The assessment teams consist of NHS Staff, including nurses, matrons, doctors, catering and domestic service managers, executive and non-executive directors, dieticians and estates directors, patients, patient representatives and/or members of the public.

Helen Moss, director of nursing, said: "We welcome these assessments as they give us a measure of confidence in the quality of services we are providing.

"We are extremely pleased that our hospitals have again scored well in these crucial areas that impact so heavily on a patient's experience in hospital.

"We are particularly pleased that our quest for our hospitals to be the cleanest places in town is reflected in our score on patient environment and our success in reducing hospital-associated infections like MRSA and c.diff."

She added: "We know that the quality of the food, the cleanliness and tidiness of the surroundings and the level of dignity offered to patients together contribute enormously to patients' general wellbeing and recovery.

"Patients at Stafford and Cannock have a daily choice of wholesome, fresh food, ranging from traditional dishes like shepherd's pie or roast beef salad to more adventurous vegetable madras curry or salmon and dill potato bake.

"A score of acceptable for privacy and dignity reflects the work that we have recognised needs to be done to make further improvements.

"We announced in June that we had been awarded £100,000 to support improvements in this area and much of this work has already been done, including purchasing additional signs and recruiting a nurse to lead this project. We will continue to work hard to ensure the rating improves next year."