Ilford-based NHS Treatment Centre scores top marks for cleanliness

Company news

Oct 01, 2013

North East London Treatment Centre, run by Care UK, has been given top marks by a new body that inspects hospitals from the patient’s point of view.

The recently published report praises the centre, which is based on the King George’s Hospital site in Ilford, for its attention to care and cleanliness.

In January 2012, Prime Minister David Cameron called for a new patient-led inspection of hospitals’ environments and in June the treatment centre underwent its first Patient Led Assessment of Care Environment (PLACE). PLACE covers a very broad range of issues, including privacy and dignity, cleanliness, food quality and general décor and maintenance of the building. As the team is led by patients, the assessment places patients’ views at the centre of the review.

The centre’s assessment was led by six patient assessors – specially trained patients from the local area who can undertake the assessment from the patient’s perspective.

Veronica Pinder, the treatment centre’s infection prevention and control lead, said: “The assessors had access to all areas a patient would visit. We took them to the wards, to our preadmission and recovery unit, outpatients and all other public areas of the centre.”

The scores awarded to the centre by the assessors were:

• Cleanliness : 98.8 percent
• Food : 86.8 percent
• Privacy, Dignity and Wellbeing : 91.3 percent
• Condition, Appearance and Maintenance : 93.7 percent

Veronica said: “We were delighted when the report came back rating our standards of cleanliness at almost 99 percent. We take hygiene and infection control very seriously and have never had a case of MRSA or C-difficile.”

The assessors sampled the centre’s food and talked to the patients about the care they received. Veronica said: “We have a wonderful team here who manage to cater for a wide variety of cultural and dietary requirements and always produce tasty and nutritious meals.

“We frequently monitor patients’ views on the food and they often tell us they don’t want to go home because the food is so good! I was very pleased to hear that the assessors heard similar comments during their inspection.”

Paul Attwal, hospital director at North East London NHS Treatment Centre, said: “This initiative reflects the importance of meeting the needs and expectations of patients in the provision of healthcare services and I am delighted that the assessors have commented so positively.

“I was delighted to see that the assessors recognised our commitment to hygiene and to patient dignity and care. These are the linchpins of excellent healthcare and I am very proud of my team for delivering such high standards day after day.”