PEAT survery judges food at Leighton Hospital, Crewe, to be 'excellent' (From Crewe Guardian)

PEAT survery judges food at Leighton Hospital, Crewe, to be 'excellent'

4:55pm Wednesday 8th July 2009

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HOSPITAL food at Leighton Hospital has been given top marks in a national survey.

The standard of food was rated as ‘excellent’ by the PEAT team, which is made up of patients, members of the public and NHS staff, and is managed by the National Patient Safety Agency.

The food was assessed on a range of areas including quality, choice and service, as well as initiatives to help patients with their nutritional intake, including protected mealtimes and nutritional screening.

In March, the trust introduced a set time on each ward when patients’ mealtimes became the priority.

Jayne Hartley, deputy director of nursing said: “We ensure meals are served as soon as they arrive on the ward, so that they are still hot when our patients sit down to eat.

“We also listened to our patients to develop a better environment in which they could enjoy their meals. Day rooms are now used by many patients to eat their meals, and interruptions on the ward during mealtimes are kept to an absolute minimum.”

The PEAT team judged the overall environment at Leighton to have improved over the last year to ‘good’ from last year’s ‘acceptable’.

The scores took into account reviews of bathroom areas, décor, lighting, floors and patient areas.

In a new category, the hospital was rated as ‘good’ for privacy and dignity. Matron Philippa Pordes said more changes are in the pipeline to further improve privacy.

She said: “It’s great news to see the improvements we have made over the past 12 months.

“The majority of our accommodation is single sex, except where acceptable in emergency or assessment areas. However, patients have told us they are not certain about what ‘mixed’, ‘single’ or ‘same sex’ accommodation means.

“To make it as clear as possible, we are in the process of installing doors at the entrance to each bay area. These doors will ensure we can close doors between the already separate male and female patients’ sleeping areas, maintaining their privacy.

“We are also changing our washroom and toilet signage, so that male and female bathroom areas are clearly marked, avoiding any potential confusion or embarrassment.”

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