London Road Community Hospital PLACE assessment

Healthwatch Derby visited London Road Community Hospital, as part of Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust monthly PLACE Inspection (Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment), on 28 August 2013.

London Road Community Hospital is a community based hospital located in the city centre. It provides rehabilitation and intermediate care, independent facilities and some outpatient services including dermatology. During the tour, representatives visited Reception, Dermatology, Neurology, Ward 4 and Ward 6, making observations and were invited to sample a selection of the three course meals from the hospital lunch menu.

Healthwatch Derby recommended that: all equipment in the hospital should be free from dirt in an effort to improve infection control and stored in appropriate storage areas; all disabled toilets throughout the hospital need to be assessed to ensure that wheelchair users are able to access them and all bins in disabled toilets need to be push button lids not foot operated lids as all that were checked during the visit were not appropriate; the Chapel and Prayer Room facilities need improving, with the provision of curtains or screens to provide privacy for users, equipment to make it more accessible and welcoming, and service user feedback forms should be made available to allow for their input; all fire procedures need to be completed with maps displaying the location and displayed in the designated area near the fire panel and that; certain items in the therapy kitchen need to be stored in a locked drawer when they are not in use.

Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have compiled their own response addressing the recommendations, this is not included in this report.