Guidance for services

PLACE is an assessment programme run by NHS England which should be completed within all qualifying inpatient premises on an annual basis. PLACE was launched in 2013 and replaced a previous national assessment programme called PEAT (Patient Environment Action Team).

PLACE will run from September for a period of approximately 10 weeks. All assessments should be completed within that period of time. Notification of the official opening and closing dates for the collection will be issued by NHS England.

The purpose of PLACE is to assess the environment from a patient’s perspective. Therefore, it has a very diverse set of questions. The questions within PLACE are divided into 6 main domains (condition and appearance; cleanliness; food and hydration; privacy and dignity; disability; dementia). 

The assessment forms detail what the assessment team will be looking at and how the assessment will be undertaken. Not all forms are relevant to all sites. 

Once analysed and compiled by NHS England’s Workforce and Estates Statistics team, all PLACE reports for each site meeting inclusion criteria will be released to the public as Official Statistics on our website. They will also be used by other organisations such as the Care Quality Commission (CQC). A score is assigned for each of the assessment categories relevant to each organisation and site.

Only PLACE assessments meeting our completion criteria will be included in official statistics, to maintain comparability and fairness. The full criteria are listed in the PLACE summary Information guidance published in the supporting guidance section. Any assessments not meeting the criteria will be removed from the collection and excluded from the results.

Each organisation will have a PLACE programme lead who will have responsibility for organising, co-ordinating and managing the programme. You should make sure you are aware of who this person is within your organisation. Assessments on the day can be led by PLACE leads representing the programme lead. 

The assessment team will be made up of a combination of the organisations staff assessors and patient representatives.

It is a requirement of PLACE that patient representation makes up at least 50% of the assessment team. The number of patient representatives on each team must always be at least equal to the number of staff assessors and as a minimum each team should always have at least 2 patient representatives.  

Team numbers may differ depending on the size and complexity of your unit/ ward/ area, and in some cases the team may be divided into sub-teams to visit all relevant areas. PLACE team members are fully briefed and prepared for the requirements of the programme.

The assessment team will walk around the unit/ward/area and its external areas to assess against the PLACE criteria. In addition, part of the assessment process includes observing and sampling the meal service. 

PLACE teams may need to be accompanied during their visit by suitable staff representatives. Staff undertaking this task cannot participate in the scoring process but may be invited by the PLACE team to sit in on the discussions.

Prior to assessment the PLACE lead will have a brief discussion with services regarding anything relevant the team needs to know before starting (such as meal times and unavailable areas). 

Staff are asked to support the process by allowing the team access to rooms and answering any queries they may have. 

The team would also likely appreciate it if a quiet area could be made available (to meet, store their personal belongings, and for use during scoring discussions).

On completion of the scoring process, it is useful for the team to meet with someone from the unit to talk about anything that needs clarifying, discuss assessment findings and any actions which are more urgent.

Assessment time differs from site to site depending on the size of the unit, the number of areas for assessment, and the assessment team. It is anticipated that a whole day will be required for assessment.

The PLACE assessment team should not impact on the delivery of healthcare services. If you have any concerns, please do raise them with the PLACE lead. In addition, the PLACE team will be fully briefed on the importance of respecting the confidentiality and privacy and dignity of patients. Patient interaction during the process is encouraged, however this will be done as deemed appropriate by the PLACE lead.

You should advise your local communications team in advance of the publication timing (dates are announced by NHS England 6-8 weeks in advance on the PLACE statistics website). They should be made aware that local and national press organisations often take an interest in results and are likely to publish articles on them.

Organisational and site PLACE scores will be analysed and published as official statistics by NHS England. Additionally, organisations have their own processes for reporting and sharing their results.

In addition to officially published materials, a suite of reports will be made available on EFM at publication time. The “exceptions report” may be particularly useful, as it lists the questions where maximum scores were not obtained.

Organisations are required to produce action plans based on the findings of PLACE, the process and ownership of these action plans is for local determination.

It is advisable to inform your communications team of published results and provide any background information required.