Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust has been rated highly in this year’s Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment (PLACE) results, released yesterday (16 August), exceeding the national average across all areas.

The PLACE assessments look at the patient environment and how well it supports and enhances the provision of clinical care, and are carried out by groups of five assessors including service users, relatives, carers and patient advocates.

The annual assessments score NHS organisations on cleanliness, quality and availability of food and drink, how well the building meets the needs of the people who use it and how well the environment protects people’s privacy and dignity.

PLACE assessors also consider how dementia friendly the patient environment is. This focuses on flooring, decor and signage, but also includes things such as availability of handrails and appropriate seating which can help those who have dementia

The Trust scored highly across all areas, beating the national averages across all areas. In particular, the quality of food at Airedale Centre for Mental Health received a score of 100 per cent, with Lynfield Mount Hospital scoring 99.62 per cent, putting the Trust fifth overall out of all the NHS organisations that were assessed on their food.

Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust’s Integration and Development Manager, John Wright, said: “This is a fantastic result and reflects the hard work and commitment that our staff put in every day to ensure that the patient experience is a positive one. A clean, comfortable environment can make a big difference to a person’s feelings about their treatment and recovery, so as well as celebrating this result we will also consider the assessors’ comments to see how we can improve our environments even more in future.”