BPAS - Bournemouth

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• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

This means we looked for evidence that the service involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained the same. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

We have not awarded this service a score for Caring.

Find out about when we will not publish a key question score and what we look at when we assess Caring.

The service always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

We found staff to be friendly and caring towards patients and treated them with kindness and dignity. We observed the handover of patients from theatre to recovery and found the process to be calm with positive interactions.

Staff drew curtains when providing care to ensure privacy and dignity of patients. The patient satisfaction survey results for the month of July and August 2025 showed that 100% of patients felt they were given enough privacy when they needed this.

We spoke with patients onsite who said staff were very friendly and caring. Patient feedback received by the service described staff as “supportive, helpful and kind”.

Feedback from a patient read ‘every person I spoke to was kind, knowledgeable and spoke to me as if they had all the time in the world, really appreciate everything, thank you’. Another read ‘the staff I spoke with was fantastic, compassionate and answered all my questions’.

The service provided an aftercare line which was open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition to this, patients had access to advice and counselling support prior to and following treatment.

The service treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

Staff identified, flagged up and shared information about patients’ communication needs to meet their requirement and to ensure effective communication using recognised interpreters when needed. Staff had access to communication aids to help patients become partners in their care and treatment.

We observed staff speaking and explaining things to patients in a way they could understand. There were interpreting services available when required.

Staff ensured that patients could obtain information on treatments and this was provided via booklets, through the organisations website, verbally and via email.

The service made adjustments for patients. For example, the service had a number of reasonable adjustment pathways and adjusted them according to the patient’s needs. Special consideration was given to patients with protected characteristics. Patients could also choose to have a face to face consultation instead of a telephone consultation.

The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

Patients were allowed to ask questions about their procedure anytime during their visit. Patients were also made aware of the choices they had regarding pregnancy remains at the time of their consultation. We observed consultations where information was shared with patients about their options for termination, discussion of the handling of pregnancy remains and aftercare support.

Staff checked with patients to see if they were happy for their general practitioner (GP) to be given a summary of their visit. Staff also ensured patients understood the information which was provided by discussing this in detail in a language that was easy to understand.

Feedback from a patient read ‘I was given the information I needed and the time to think and made sure I knew what was going to happen from first contact.’ Another read ‘All the information provided in the home kit was well labelled and informative providing reassurance during the whole process.’

The service listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

Staff were aware of and dealt with any specific risk issues relating to the patients. We observed a morning briefing where specific patient needs were discussed. For example, a patient with coeliac disease was discussed and staff were reminded of their diet.

We observed a handover where the anaesthetist talked about the patients physical and emotional needs and included the level of anxiety the patient felt. This enabled the nurses to adjust how staff communicated with the patient to reduce their anxiety on waking up.

We also observed staff supporting a young patient who was very nervous of needles and remained with them throughout recovery to help them to relax.

Feedback from a patient read ‘I felt safe and my anxiety was eased quite quickly because of the gentleness of the staff’. Another read ‘when I experienced complications following the procedure, everyone was very supportive and checked on me.’

The service utilised a translation service for patients for whom English was a second language.

Staff told us they were able to clean and wash items of clothing from patients if they bled heavily or were homeless. This was to help improve the experience, care and dignity their patients.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Staff said they felt supported, respected and valued by their managers in all areas we visited. We saw that staff were encouraged to speak up and had access to the organisations freedom to speak up policy and procedure.

Staff had access to an employee assistance telephone helpline which provided support 24 hours, 7 days a week. This included counselling support, legal advice and financial and debt information advice. Staff could also access the organisations online portal which contained a wealth of information on help and support including a mental fitness tool and self-help workbooks.

In addition to this, staff could access a consultation advice service through a GP (general practitioner) who provided advice, diagnoses, reassurance and a course of action if necessary. This service was available 24 hours, 7 days a week and included a virtual consultation option as well as private prescription service.

Staff also had access to support for their own physical and emotional health needs through the organisation wellbeing hub where they could access a range of useful resources and signposting.

We reviewed the organisation people survey results from November 2024 for the clinical services in the southwest which saw an uptake of 7% from the previous year. The survey showed 94% of staff felt they received the support they needed from their colleagues and 90% of staff were proud to be working for the organisation. Following this, the organisation had identified areas of improvement with an action plan which included setting up a divisional in person meeting once per year to allow staff with an opportunity for networking and experience and acting to boost morale and engagement. At the time of the inspection, this had not been launched.

Staff had access to the organisation people forum which served as a link between senior leaders and colleagues across the organisation. The main role of the forum was to provide a framework to foster effective communication, collaboration, and representation between colleagues and leadership with the ultimate goal of creating a positive and inclusive workplace culture for all. The forum had around 20 representatives from different departments and levels within BPAS and covered all regions.