The Patient‑Led Assessments of the Care Environment (PLACE) give patients a direct voice in assessing how hospital settings support high‑quality, compassionate care.
From cleanliness and food to privacy, dignity and inclusivity, PLACE results reflect what patients experience day‑to‑day. In 2025, The QEH saw progress across the board with the latest results showing year‑on‑year improvement in all areas compared with 2024.
This highlights the commitment and teamwork of colleagues across the hospital to continually improve the care environment.
Local PLACE assessors visited The QEH at the end of September 2025. Working in small teams, they toured wards and departments across the site, assessing standards of cleanliness, maintenance, food, privacy and how well the environment supports people living with dementia or a disability. The teams included patients, hospital governors, volunteers and observers.
One assessor commented: “All the areas we visited were exceptionally clean and generally tidy. Staff happy to speak to us and their patients and dignity was observed at all times.
“We visited a ward for older patients which impressed everyone on the team. It was light and bright and calm, with a beautiful day room, entertainment each day, puzzles, books, and a wheelchair friendly garden.”
The most significant increase was in the privacy and dignity category. This area was highlighted for development in the 2024 inspection. Since then, The QEH Estates team has worked closely with clinical areas to introduce changes that strengthen patients’ privacy.
The QEH PLACE survey results for 2025:
| 2025 | 2024 | |
| Cleanliness | 99.27% | 93.53% |
| Combined Food | 89.55% | 87.88% |
| Ward Food | 91.39% | 86.31% |
| Privacy, Dignity and Wellbeing | 94.15% | 71.02% |
| Condition, appearance and Maintenance | 98.90% | 84.38% |
| Dementia | 90.16% | 74.71% |
| Disability | 92.83% | 77.34% |
Sarah Walker, Deputy Director of Estates and Facilities, said: “These results reflect sustained work across the Trust to improve the care environment, guided by feedback from patients and assessors.
“The improvement in privacy and dignity is particularly important and shows what can be achieved when estates and clinical teams work closely together. I would like to thank everyone involved, including the patient assessors, for the time, care and challenge they bring to the PLACE process.”
Ends. Notes to editors; For media enquiries only, please contact Communications Team, media.enquiries@qehkl.nhs.uk or 01553 613216. For all other enquiries, please contact QEH Switchboard on 01553 613613.
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