By Jenni DixonTHREE community hospitals have been given a clean bill of health by inspectors.A Patient Environment Action Team have published a report following annual visits to the Waveney Primary Care Trust's Beccles and District War Memorial Hospital, the Patrick Stead Hospital in Halesworth and Southwold Hospital.
By Jenni Dixon
THREE community hospitals have been given a clean bill of health by inspectors.
A Patient Environment Action Team have published a report following annual visits to the Waveney Primary Care Trust's Beccles and District War Memorial Hospital, the Patrick Stead Hospital in Halesworth and Southwold Hospital.
The team, made up of trained, independent health inspectors, looked at a wide variety of subjects at each hospital, including cleanliness, food, linen, smells, lighting, furniture, flooring, maintenance and privacy issues.
Beccles Hospital, which is currently transforming a day room into a dining room attached to a new conservatory for its 26 patients, was found to have excellent cleaning standards with all staff smart, efficient and friendly.
Hospital manager, Grainne Spain, said: "The trust has made a big effort to improve those things which were considered reasonable last time."
Patient Eileen Soanes, 87, from Beccles, has been in the hospital for two weeks following a slight stroke. She said: "Everybody is very friendly and the food is very good."
The Halesworth hospital also received a good report, with its reception baby-changing facilities singled out as an example of best practice.
The report added: "The patients love the day resource centre and do not know what they would do without this service."
The standards of cleanliness at Southwold Hospital were also found to be excellent in the inspections, which were carried out in January.
Andy Evans, chief executive of Waveney Primary Care Trust, was thrilled with the results.
"The tone of the report into all three of our community hospitals is overwhelmingly favourable and is a credit to all staff who work there," he said.
"The report also points out areas where we need to improve, which include issues around lack of storage space, worn carpets, insufficient external lighting and inadequate signage.
"We will be addressing the areas where we need to make further improvements."
jenni.dixon@eadt.co.uk
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