§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the process used to grade hospitals on the 19 elements of the patient environment inspection programme, with specific reference to how each element is weighted in the final assessment. [71861]
§ Mr. HuttonSince publication of the NHS Plan, patient environment action teams (PEATs) teams have undertaken four rounds of assessment visits to acute NHS trusts each evaluating performance and progress against 19 separate elements. Scores are combined to produce a
406Wrating. Each element of the patient environment was scored on a scale of one to four, where one is poor and four is excellent.
On the question of weighting; whilst every aspect of the assessment is important, we recognise that patients will see some areas as of greater importance than others. For this reason, in determining the final rating a hospital receives, particular attention is paid to the hospital's performance in areas of ward cleanliness, tidiness and decoration and the condition of ward furniture so that defects in these areas are not masked by good performance in other areas of assessment.
The clean hospitals programme has had a clear impact on standards of cleanliness, decoration and supporting services. Hospitals up and down the country have responded magnificently to this, the biggest clean-up campaign in the history of the National Health Service, to the extent that by October last year there were no hospitals in England where cleaning standards were found to be less than acceptable. The latest round of PEAT visits have recently been completed and the results will be available shortly.