Health watchdogs praise hospital improvements

9:22am Sunday 4th November 2007

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Pembrokeshire Community Health Council has praised the improvements made by Pembrokeshire and Derwen NHS Trust to Withybush Hospital and the South Pembrokeshire Health and Social Care Centre.

In its fourth annual hospital patient environment assessment, the council said Trust staff are friendly, helpful and polite, patients are generally happy and huge improvements have been made to patient environments.

Congratulating the Trust, CHC chief officer Ashley Warlow said: "I am pleased to say that, since starting these visits, a wide range of improvements have been made and any actions identified have always been carried out. We saw many examples of excellence in both hospitals and only a small number of shortcomings."

In response to Improving Health in Wales: A Plan for the NHS and its Partners, the CHCs were asked to carry out annual assessments, the first one being in 2003.

Welcoming the CHC report, Pembrokeshire and Derwen NHS Trust acting chief executive Caroline Oakley, said: "This assessment allows the CHC members to view our hospitals through the eyes of a patient and is useful in terms of improving the quality of patient environments and experiences. This would not be possible without the help of Trust staff."