Optical Express - Southampton (The Avenue) Hospital

On this page

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

We looked for evidence that people were always treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. We checked that people’s privacy and dignity was respected, that they understood that they and their experience of how they were treated and supported mattered. We also looked for evidence that every effort was made to take people’s wishes into account and respect their choices, to achieve the best possible outcomes for them.

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

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.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity.

Staff were observed treating patients with respect and dignity. Staff actively listened to patients’ concerns and preferences, addressing patients with their preferred name. Staff maintained the confidentiality of information about patients. Sensitive conversations about care and treatment were carried out in private rooms. Scrub practitioners demonstrated kindness and compassion during surgery, by providing patients with verbal reassurance throughout.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. 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.

Prospective patients were given information and treatment options tailored to their specific needs and expectations. Visual improvement targets were agreed based on discussion between patient and consultant ophthalmologist. The service ensured patients with specific needs were able to request alcohol free and animal product free eye drops. Staff were provided with a list of medications with substitutes when clinically appropriate. This promoted individual choice and considered patient preferences.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

The service supported patients to reflect on and make decisions about care and treatment independently. Patients were in control of where and when to have their care and treatment. Leaders shared examples of how they had organised care and treatment at other linked locations, to support patient independence. For example, patients reported having preoperative scans closer to their home location, which supported them to plan their time more effectively.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. 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 managed any specific risks, such as underlying patient conditions or changes in observations. We observed staff proactively offering and providing extra pillows to make the operating table more comfortable for a patient. When patients expressed discomfort, staff immediately responded.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Staff said leaders looked after their personal wellbeing and adjusted for flexible working where possible. They felt that leaders listened to them when they raised concerns and provided development opportunities for further training and progression if they wanted this. When staff needed to travel to other service locations, leaders ensured there were appropriate travel arrangements. The staff survey action plan showed leaders had responded to and acted upon concerns raised by staff. This was discussed and shared during protected team meeting days. Most staff felt there was a healthy work life balance. All staff felt able to raise issues with team members and managers. All staff felt they were kept up to date with latest changes.

The service used a range of tools to proactively manage, monitor and report on staff wellbeing. These included employee resource groups for people with protected characteristics, flexible arrangements for carers and observation of religious holidays and cultural competence training for leaders.