Watford General – England’s worst acute hospital for privacy and dignity

• Watford General is rated England’s worst acute hospital for privacy, dignity and wellbeing, according to a closely-watched NHS national survey carried out in 2024
• Watford also came bottom on this measure in the previous year’s PLACE survey – and the situation has got worse
• Watford gets just 65%  for privacy, dignity and wellbeing in  2024 as other local hospitals do much better – Lister in Stevenage gets 90% rating, Luton and Dunstable 78%
• PLACE assessments are an annual appraisal of the non-clinical aspects of NHS and independent/private healthcare settings, undertaken by teams made up of staff and members of the public (known as patient assessors). The team must include a minimum of 2 patient assessors, making up at least 50 per cent of the group.
• Food on the wards at Watford General got a score of 80%, with St Albans City Hospital getting just 76%. Luton and Dunstable ward food rated about the same as Watford, with 81%, with Lister again achieving a high score of 93%.
• The link to the NHS report on the PLACE survey is here.

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/patient-led-assessments-of-the-care-environment-place/england—2024#