Royal Surrey County Hospital

On this page

• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

The service was proactive in ensuring children and young people received care in a timely way. There was direct reviews of sick patients on Hascombe Ward to avoid attending ED. The Paediatric Assessment Unit accepted referrals from GPs and the Emergency Department (A&E) for patients who needed urgent review but not necessarily admission onto the ward. The team had access to a dedicated paediatric learning disabilities nurse which is rare. Families and staff named her multiple times as the reason they had such a positive experience. Facilities supported children with neuro-diversity, especially on ED and Hascombe Ward.

This service scored 100 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We did not look at Person-centred Care during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Care provision, Integration and continuity during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Providing Information during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Listening to and involving people during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

Parents felt they were able to access the support they needed when they needed it, for example, parents had direct access to the ward.

Staff advised us that the service was proactive in supporting equity in access.

The service was developing transitional packs for families moving from children and adolescent services into adult services.

The service used the safe transfer of the paediatric patient (STOPP) tool to ensure the safe and effective transfer of paediatric patients. The department followed regional network guidance for the safe transfer of paediatric patients. A named doctor for STOPP attended the critical care South Thames Paediatric Network to enable shared learning across the network as well as supporting the development of the tool.

The service worked collaboratively with the Integrated Care Board to set up a group to work across the region to plan for winter pressures. This enabled a region-wide approach to paediatric provision and mutual aid.

The service supported a joint working agreement to be able to provide MRI under general anaesthetic for Royal Surrey paediatric patients. Resulting in improvements in access to MRI for young children and those with neurodiversity. Auditing demonstrated this led to earlier diagnosis of diseases, particularly in children with epilepsy.

Staff attended bed meeting 3 times daily. One in the morning, one at midday and another in the afternoon. These were used to discuss staffing, discharges, step down’s, outliers and wait times. We attended 4 meetings and noted during these meetings staff completed a full review of children and young people with additional mental health needs who were due to be discharged. Where staff were required to act, this was followed up at the next meeting.

The service had a ‘Was not brought’ policy where staff wrote to parents/carers when a child/adolescent did not attend where another appointment is offered. If another appointment was missed, staff completed a safeguarding check. Managers reviewed follow ups at fortnightly meetings.

Staff could access an online translation service with access to over 100 languages, leaflets were also available in other languages via a QR code. Children with learning disabilities were able to attend onsite out of hours in order that they could become familiar with the surroundings pre attendance. This ensure adjustments and bespoke plans could be made. Since this was implemented, the service had seen a reduction in the number of patients with learning disabilities declining treatment.

The trust submitted performance data as part of the assessment process. We noted oncology referral to treatment (RTT) times were in line with or better than national standards. We viewed 6 weeks of performance data and noted that the service was mostly meeting national targets. Where RTT times were not meeting targets, for example, surgery and dermatology, there were action plans in place to monitor improvement. However, all lists had seen reductions and were in the process of returning to pre-pandemic levels.

We did not look at Equity in experiences and outcomes during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Planning for the future during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.