Northwick Park 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

At our last assessment, we rated this key question as good. At this assessment the rating has remained the same. We rated the key question as good.

We looked for evidence that children, young people and their families were treated with kindness, compassion and respect. We considered whether their privacy and dignity were maintained and whether staff understood the importance of children and young people’s experiences of care. We found that staff made every effort to respect children and young people’s wishes and choices and to support positive outcomes.

Children and young people were treated with kindness and compassion, and their privacy and dignity were respected. Staff understood that how children and young people were treated and supported was important. Children and young people were treated as individuals and given choice and control wherever possible.

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 treated children and young people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity.

During the inspection, we observed staff being kind and caring towards children, young people and families. We spoke with twelve children, young people and family members, who told us staff were kind and compassionate. They were positive about their care and treatment in all areas of the children’s services we visited. Staff spoke positively about their work and told us they were committed to providing the best possible care and treatment.

Staff recognised the importance of maintaining dignity, when providing personal care or carrying out observations, curtains were drawn or doors were closed in case of patients in single rooms. Staff introduced themselves clearly and explained procedures to children, young people and their families before undertaken those procedures on the children.

The service treated children and young people as individuals and worked with them to provide care and treatment that met their needs and preferences. Staff took account of children’s abilities, aspirations, culture and backgrounds, including protected characteristics.

We spoke with twelve children and young people and their families who told us staff treated them with kindness and respect and maintained their dignity when proving care to them. They said staff listened to them and took their views onboard.

Staff we spoke with described how they assessed children and young people’s needs and preferences as part of their assessments during consultations and ensured these were reflected in planning their care and treatment. Clinical staff told us they respected individual wishes and maintained their confidentiality.

Records showed that multidisciplinary meetings had taken place where required, with input from other teams such as mental health services and social workers to support children and young people with complex needs. This showed a service that worked collaboratively with other internal and external teams to support children and young people with complex health needs and those with mental health needs. The child and adolescent mental health team was accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This meant staff could get specialist mental health support whenever a child or young person needed it.

The service promoted children and young people’s independence and supported them to have choice and control over their care, treatment and wellbeing.

Children and young people and their families told us staff asked and considered their individual choices and wishes. They said they were kept informed about their care and were given information that helped them understood decisions made about their health.

Information was also provided to children and young people and their families through leaflets and posters. We observed information in the parent’s room on the complaint’s policy and how to contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS), advocacy services and wellbeing support.

Safety and continuity of care were priorities throughout the care journey of children and young people. The service assessed the needs of children and young people and planned their discharge to support services after discharge from the ward when required.

There were effective systems in place to support patient pathways, we were told the CYP service had good links with external agencies and community teams such as the local authorities and social services to support the child and their family. Managers we spoke with said that this partnership working was effective.

Children and young people and their families told us they felt staff communicated with them clearly and in a way that they understood. They said staff had been kind and had responded quickly to their needs, including answering call bells within a minute.

Families of children and young people told us that, they had been kept informed and felt involved in their child’s care, which they valued during challenging situations. They told us the nursing staff had responded promptly to the needs of their children, helping to reduce their pain, anxiety and discomfort.

The nursing staff were seen engaging with children during assessments, discussing immediate needs and planning suitable activities. Parents remained present and contributed to discussions about what mattered most for their child.

Children and young people told us medicines had been given on time, and patients reported that staff had checked for pain and offered relief when needed.

During our onsite inspection, we observed that staff consistently introduced themselves to children and young people and their families, responded promptly to requests, and kept them regularly informed.

There was medical cover on-site 24-hour hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition to this, consultants were also available on an on-call basis out of hours. Staff told us they could call for support from consultants at any time and reported no delays in receiving this support.

The service offered a chaperone for those children and young people who wanted one during physical examinations. There was a message displayed at the service reception explaining how to request one, however we have not seen an example of this being used.

The service had arrangements to support staff wellbeing. They supported staff to deliver person-centred care to children and young people.

Staff said they felt confident to raise concerns and believed they would be listened to and supported by their managers. They described a culture where concerns were taken seriously.

There was established psychological and emotional support for staff within the service. There was a clear understanding by the nursing staff around the kind of support that might be required by them in supporting their wellbeing at work. Staff supported each other during difficult situations and by holding debriefs and reflective sessions to ensure the whole team had an opportunity to discuss any concerns as quickly as possible following incidents and giving or receiving bad news. There were processes in place to ensure support for staff was available from the beginning of their journey within the service. For example, a preceptor and buddy system.