Carrying out a PLACE assessment visit at Dorset County Hospital

An interview with our new Volunteer, Gary

Recently, a team of our volunteers and staff undertook a PLACE Assessment visit, to help Dorset County Hospital monitor and maintain good standards of cleanliness and non-clinical care. Gary describes his experience and why it was of value for patients and to him personally.

“I’ve just started volunteering with Healthwatch Dorset, having retired from a career in the NHS and charity sector. I underestimated the difficulty of going from full-time, full-on, work to nothing, especially with winter coming. Healthwatch Dorset offered an opportunity to use my skills and experience and get out of the house.

“My first experience as a volunteer was a PLACE visit to Dorset County Hospital on 6 November. PLACE visits are about assessing patient experience in terms of the built environment and non-clinical services. We assess cleanliness, the condition of facilities (the state of repair, ease of access, touches to make the environment welcoming and informative) and, very importantly, the food service. We don’t only talk to patients, but we look at services from the perspective of a lay person.

“On the day of the visit, the PLACE assessors met in the hospital restaurant for a quick briefing and then went out in groups. We were a mixed bunch – Healthwatch Dorset volunteers, hospital volunteers and staff members/clinician.

“My group visited the Cancer Centre, A&E and a medical admissions ward. We were shown around by a very impressive member of staff from Dorset County Hospital, who has made a lot of improvements in his first year and is extremely committed to making sure services are excellent for patients, as well as for the staff who work there.

“I’m happy to report that the standards of cleanliness I saw were excellent. I asked if the cleaning was contracted out, as had been my experience working in other parts of the country. Cleaners are employed by the Trust, so are very much part of the team. The state of repair was also very good, and I was happy to see that the Cancer Centre and A&E were newly built or recently renovated with a very modern look and feel and excellent fixtures and fittings (I loved the calming leaf effect on the windows and the sky and cloud pictures above the beds in A&E).

“The ward felt very busy, but you could see that people were well looked after and again, cleaning and repairs were good. We were on the ward at lunchtime, so we saw how meals are served. Individual meal orders are brought to the ward in large units which are plugged in to keep the food warm (or cool) and then served. We heard about business cases to buy special cutlery for people who might struggle with conventional cutlery, for example, after a stroke and other improvements made or in the pipeline. We talked also about how people are helped and encouraged to eat. We sampled the food ourselves and met the head chef. I was happy to hear that most of the food is cooked from scratch in the hospital kitchens; the food was very good.

“I came away from the assessment visit feeling I’d done something useful. I feel very strongly about the need for cleanliness and I’m happy to say I saw no issues there. Likewise, food and nutrition. It is crucial to recovery and health and having worked in diabetes, I’ve seen in the past, how difficult it can be to get the right food in hospital. Here again, I was hugely impressed by the efforts and enthusiasm of the catering team.

“Lastly, for me personally, I live a ten-minute walk from the hospital.  As I get older, I know I’m likely to need some healthcare in the coming years. I felt reassured by my visit, and that means a lot.”