PATIENTS at Musgrove Park Hospital have rated the care environment over 75 per cent in all aspects in the latest NHS England assessment.

Figures published by NHS England from its annual patient-led assessments of the care environment (PLACE) show that Musgrove has been rated above the national average in all categories.

The assessment involves a group of people walking around the hospital checking whether the environment supports patient's privacy, the quality of the good, the cleanliness of the hospital and the general building maintenance.

The hospital was rated 99.47 per cent for cleanliness, 93.43 for food, 86.55 for privacy, dignity and wellbeing, 95.32 for condition, appearance and maintenance, 79.15 for dementia and 79.52 for disability.

Hayley Peters, director of patient care, said: “To be above the national average in every category really is an outstanding achievement, and shows that our services are having a positive impact on our patients’ experience of care. It is also a testament to the excellent work and dedication of our staff.

“It is very important to us that we offer healthy and nutritional food and drink to our patients and visitors and this is an area we consistently perform strongly in, having won a national award last year.”

PLACE assessments were introduced by the NHS in April 2013 as a way of getting feedback from patients on how the services could be improved.

This year was the first time dementia patients were involved in the feedback.

Mrs Peters added: “At Musgrove we have been working hard to make the hospital dementia-friendly and during this year’s Dementia Awareness Week we actively asked patients and staff for feedback on how we could improve the hospital environment for people with dementia.

“We have already refurbished our Gould Ward, which now uses pictures of local landmarks to help patients to identify their beds, and we will look to implement some of the other ideas across the hospital, such as clearer signage, contrasting backdrops or rails and doors that blend in with walls for staff areas over the next few months.

“Although our PLACE results are very pleasing, we know we can’t be complacent as there are always further improvements that we can make to our care environment.”