PATIENTS can put the county’s hospital in their PLACE.

An invitation has gone out to members of the public to give their assessment on the quality of hospital food, the cleanliness of wards and the privacy and dignity of patients at Hereford County Hospital and its community counterparts.

The Patient Led Assessment of Care Environment (PLACE) assessment of Wye Valley NHS Trust’s hospitals is due to take place in a few weeks’ time and the Trust is looking for people who have had experiences of the hospitals to be members of the assessment panels.

Introduced last year, PLACE assessments allow local people to carry out spot checks on their local hospitals as part of the central government initiative to drive improvements to hospital environments.

The assessment teams - with at least of half of them being patients - will carry out unannounced inspections and their findings will be published.

“This is an exciting opportunity for local people to play a key role in making sure we maintain high standards for our patients,” said  Trust director of nursing and quality Michelle Clarke.

“We welcome the opportunity to open our doors for these announced inspections and look forward to receiving feedback from the people that count - patients and local people, particularly those who have experience of our hospitals, such as relatives and friends of patients,” she said.

The inspections are due to begin soon, although no date can be given as they are unannounced.

Guidance will be given to the assessors over commenting on general impressions of the hospitals but not the quality of clinical or medical treatment.

Results will be published nationally and on the Trust’s website.

Anyone interesting in becoming an assessor should contact Linda Ward at the County Hospital on 01432 364005 or email Linda: linda.ward@wvt.nhs.uk