Excellent patient environments within acute NHS trusts: external influences and trust characteristics

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possible common factors in 15 Acute Hospital Trusts in the UK that achieved excellent scores at all their sites in four years of national Patient Environment audits.

Design/methodology/approach – A desk-based study tested for external factors, organisational commonalities or particular contractual arrangements which the sample might have in common. A second piece of work was then undertaken; an ethnographic study that examined the behaviours exhibited by 22 managers in six of the trusts. The second phase of research will be described in a separate paper.

Findings – The research found that no external, organisational or contractual commonalities could be identified as shared by the trusts that formed the Research Group. This led the researchers to ask further questions as to the management/leadership of the FM Managers who had achieved consistantly high standards of Patient Environment over the four year period.

Practical implications – The research reveals that the trusts which achieved high standards of Patient Environment had no shared advantage in terms of external, organisational or contract characteristics. Thus, it should be possible for all trusts to achieve consistently high standards.

Originality/value – This is believed to be the only study looking at influences and characteristics that are outside the FM Managers’ control and impact on the FMs’ ability to deliver consistantly high standards.