14 November 2011
During a routine inspection
We spoke to six people on our visit, all of whom were very complimentary about the services provided by the hospital. People told us: "I came here and never looked back, what with the food and the care provided", "Nurses are so nice, cheerful and helpful", "food is beyond imagination, lovely" and "all (the) staff work so hard".
People we spoke with told us they understood their treatments and felt involved in making decisions about their care and treatment.
People were being well supported by the staff when they did not have capacity to make their own decisions. We heard about how the Mental Capacity Act was being used effectively to assess if a person was able to make their own decisions and if they were not, how the systems in place worked to make good decisions on their behalf.
However there was some poor recording about people's decisions about whether they were to receive emergency treatment or not.
Throughout our visit we heard staff talking to people in a kindly way and caring for people in a polite and professional manner.
All the people we spoke to during this visit told us they were well cared for by all the staff and that they felt safe and secure at Dartmouth hospital. We were told that the staff were competent, attentive and caring.
The staff team had a good knowledge of people's needs. However we found that people's assessments, care plans and risk assessments were not individualised or comprehensive. People's care planning was not well managed and did not help to support the delivery of consistent planned care.
People we spoke to told us they enjoyed their meals and were completely satisfied with the food served at Dartmouth hospital. We were told that all the food was freshly cooked on the premises.
On the day of our visit all areas of the hospital were very clean and free of odour, and people confirmed to us that this was always the case.
We saw that patient's needs were being met by competent trained staff. However the clinical staff were not receiving the supervision they needed in order to deliver care and treatment to people that used the service.