The Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment (PLACE) is an annual audit conducted by external assessors. It evaluates healthcare facilities across key domains:

• Cleaning
• Catering
• Privacy, Dignity, and Wellbeing
• Condition, Appearance, and Maintenance
• Dementia-friendly Environments
• Disability Accessibility

At CCC, PropCare collaborates closely with the Trusts clinical and department leads, FM Service Providers and building Stakeholders to prepare meticulously for each PLACE inspection.

Milestones that made it happen

• PropCare works closely with the Trust, with assessment preparation beginning promptly upon receipt of the previous year’s results.
• PropCare carefully analyses feedback from expert assessors to identify opportunities for enhancing the patient experience and environment.
• PropCare initiates improvements immediately, ensuring measurable progress and a consistently high standard well in advance of the next assessment cycle.
• This proactive approach reinforces PropCare’s dedication to excellence and continuous development.

Bringing improvements to life

A night-time light intrusion through patient room blinds has been identified as an area of focus in prior inspection feedback. PropCare took swift action, completing a business case to secure capital funding and leading a process to redesign the blinds systems, ensuring this element of the patient experience was addressed and improved. These proactive steps were acknowledged through the improved feedback in the 2025 assessment.

Real results, real benefits

The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust achieved ‘Excellent’ PLACE scores across all domains, outperforming national averages and demonstrating clear year-on-year improvement.

PropCare’s pro-active management directly supported the Trusts patient safety, quality and sustainability priorities. Patient feedback has cited the clean, welcoming and well maintained environment as a key factor in patients overall experience.

At PropCare, our teams’ expertise helps NHS organisations plan ahead and respond effectively to PLACE assessments. We work with Trusts to identify improvement opportunities, develop practical delivery plans and deliver measurable improvements to achieve the highest standards for patients and staff. Our team can support you to deliver the outcomes and recommendations from your PLACE assessments and establish proactive steps to ensure environments that support excellent patient care.

Can we help you?

Please contact our team for further information on how we can support you in delivering the requirements of your organisation. We’re here to help turn your vision into reality. Reach out to our team – together, we’ll make it happen.