Frimley 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 inspection we rated this key question Outstanding. At this inspection the rating has remained Outstanding. We looked for evidence that the service involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

We assessed three quality statements around kindness, compassion and dignity, responding to patient's needs and wellbeing of staff to enable good care. People were treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. Their privacy and dignity were respected. People were able to make their own decisions and be understood. Their information was kept confidential. 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.

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.

Staff treated people with kindness. People felt staff listened to them and communicated with them in a way they could understand. We saw staff of all grades sensitively and comprehensively explaining to patients the plan of care. Patients said they had their privacy and dignity respected. When staff assisted patients with personal hygiene needs and during medical ward rounds, they took care to draw curtains around the bed space for privacy. We observed staff interact with patients with kindness and compassion. For example, we observed a healthcare assistant providing one-to-one supervision for a patient with kindness and compassion.

Similarly, we heard staff going above and beyond to ensure a patient at the end of their life was able to overcome the challenges to allow them to die in their preferred place of death, this including finding a GP to register with. We witnessed a member of staff who was on their way home being very compassionate to a couple of visitors. There was a culture of kindness and respect between colleagues. Staff collaborated with other experienced colleagues to provide support for people with mental ill health and provided support with emotional wellbeing. Patient feedback was very positive, and negatives were around environmental issues.

There was mostly positive feedback from partners. National patient survey data reflected people felt listened to and were treated with kindness. The hospital was in line with the national average in these categories. Staff we spoke with understood the issues around capacity and took time to explain to patients their treatment. We saw many examples in the hospital corridors where staff were very kind to patients. They aided patients and their loved ones to find where they were going by taking them there, we saw examples of staff helping a mother and her children, and we saw a sensitive and compassionate interaction between a member of staff and someone who had just received bad news.

Staff listened and acted upon people's needs including contacting family or friends. We heard a doctor ask permission to discuss the patients progress with their son following the ward round. Staff took care to maintain patients' dignity and all electronic care records were secure and password protected. When electronic information was displayed in corridors, care was taken to maintain patient confidentiality as only initials were displayed rather than patients' full names.

We did not look at Treating people as individuals during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

We did not look at Independence, choice and control during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

The service listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Doctors and nurses on ward round listened to the patients fears and needs when planning care. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. The service had a Call 4 Concern line which anyone could call if they felt that the patient needed urgent review.

Patients told us call bells were usually answered quickly by staff. We did not observe call bells ringing for long periods of time before they were answered on the medical wards we visited. During ward rounds we heard staff going above and beyond to ensure a patient s individual needs were met in a timely manner. This included a patient at the end of their life who was assisted to overcome the challenges to allow them to die in their preferred place of death. A further patient had their wishes respected whilst in hospital to not feel isolated.

We saw that a patient with mental health needs was treated with respect kindness and compassion. When this patient was upset, they were spoken to in the appropriate calming voice and provided with reassurance. When they had calmed, they asked for a hug which the member of staff gave them. We saw staff speaking with patients in language that they could understand. They listened to the patients fears about going home and worked with them to plan to negate these fears.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. The leaders were supportive of the quality improvement programme and one of the wards had implemented a new way of working to reduce falls. The national staff survey demonstrated year on year improvement in all categories for the medical directorate.

Staff told us they were valued by leaders. Staff told us they felt listened to by leaders and were able to escalate concerns to managers and directly to leaders. Leaders told us staff wellbeing was important to them. This was reflected in the Frimley Health Foundation Trust 2020-2025 Strategy with staff wellbeing as a key pillar. Several staff members told us they had worked at Frimley Park Hospital for several years due to the work culture. Several staff members referred to the staff as "a family who worked together."

Leaders had taken steps to recognise and meet the wellbeing needs of staff, which included the necessary resources and facilities for safe working, such as regular breaks and rest areas. Staff reported being supported if they were struggling at work. We saw designated days were established to ensure that staff provided feedback to leaders. A new initiative had been launched to recognise team member of the month on each ward. We saw on one ward that a plaque was to be used to display who this team member was. A small gift had been purchased to present to the team member of the month.

The service supported staff induction and continued professional development. Training days were organised multiple times a year in focused relevant areas. Staff told us they were provided cover to attend the training. A mentorship programme was in place for staff to continuously identify and develop skills. Were staff had a new initiative this was embraced by leaders. For example, one member of staff who did not want to progress their career away from the patient facing environment, developed a new role to support the team in this area which was supported by the leadership team.

Trauma Risk Management (TRiM)was available for staff working in Cardiology that have experienced a potentially traumatic, or traumatic event whether at work or outside work. TRiM)is a peer-led process to support people following a traumatic event. For other staff there are a number of opportunities to reflect on events. Professional Nurse Advocates hold confidential, supportive spaces for staff, encompassing three elements of supporting conversations - career conversations, quality improvement and restorative clinical supervision. There were several training modules which include opportunities to consider wellbeing or resilience. There were 337 members of the medical care team attending these modules in the previous year.