Broomfield 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

We looked for evidence that children, young people their families and communities were always at the centre of how care was planned and delivered. We checked that the health and care needs of children, young people their families and communities were understood, and they were actively involved in planning care that met these needs. We also looked for evidence that children, young people their families could access care in ways that met their personal circumstances and protected equality characteristics. This is the first assessment for this service. This assessment did not cover all parts of our Assessment Framework; therefore, we did not rate the service and we have only given scores for those areas which we have assessed. We will carry out future assessments to cover other parts of the Framework and will update our website with our findings. We found that staff and leaders did not always actively listen to information about people who are most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes. This meant people’s care was not always tailored in response to this.

This service scored 4 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Staff and leaders did not listen to information about people who are most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes. This meant people’s care was not tailored in response to this.

Families of children and young people with additional needs provided positive feedback during our on-site visit about the care, treatment and support provided by staff.

Children attending PED had access to a play specialist 5 days a week, during daytime hours. Leaders acknowledged that staff in the PED did not regularly request support from the play team, and identified this as an area for improvement.

The waiting area in PED lacked resources for children and young people. There were no toys in the waiting area for children to play with.

There was limited evidence that the service actively sought out, listened to and responded to information about children and young people who were most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes. For example, through feedback from families or through audit activity. There was no parent or child representative on the CYP (children and young people) Board. This limited leaders’ ability to identify areas of concern, where action needed to be taken to ensure equity in experience and outcomes.

There were delays in the implementation of recommendations from national guidance relating to children and young people with additional needs. For example, the implementation of national guidance for the early recognition of sepsis in children with learning disabilities, autism and underlying health conditions. This delay in implementing guidance and processes was putting vulnerable children and young people at risk of poor outcomes.

Leaders acknowledged they had work to do around supporting children and families with additional needs while in the PED. They had set up a working group to review and improve the reasonable adjustments in place for children and young people living with autism. The working group had set up an action plan and was in the process of working through this at the time of our assessment.

Staff said that translation services were not always available when required. The trust was not able to provide evidence that they were monitoring any delays in accessing the interpretation or translation service or the number of occasions where this service was requested by staff but could not be provided. However, the trust stated that they would be withdrawing the contract from the previous interpretation and translation provider due to them not meeting service needs.

Healthwatch had been contacted by people with concerns over how children with additional needs were not always receiving the necessary support and care.