Want to be a patient assessor for PLACE 2023?
Good environments matter. Every NHS patient should be cared for with compassion and dignity in a clean, safe environment. Where standards fall short, they should be able to draw it to the attention of managers and hold the service to account. PLACE (Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment) assessments provide motivation for improvement by providing a clear message, directly from patients, about how the environment or services might be enhanced.
PLACE assessments also give patients and the public a voice, part of the drive to give people more influence over the way their local health and care services are run and in the way in which they are held to account.
Today, we're asking: could you be a PLACE assessor for our Trust?
Assessment teams are a collaboration between staff and patient assessors, with patient assessors making up at least 50 per cent of the assessment team. Anyone who uses a healthcare service can be a patient assessor, including current patients, their family and visitors, carers, patient advocates or patient council members. NHS Foundation Trust governors can also be patient assessors.
Staff working in a hospital cannot undertake assessments there as patient assessors, though they are able to act as patient assessors at hospitals in other NHS trusts or elsewhere. Similarly those who have recently left employment in a hospital/trust should not return as a patient assessor until a suitable period (normally two years) has elapsed.
If you are interested in becoming a patient assessor, please contact Frederick.king@nhs.net – applications are open until Friday 13 October 2023.