Frimley Park 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

At our last assessment we rated this key question outstanding. At this assessment the rating changed to good. We assessed 3 quality statements

We looked for evidence that the service met patient's needs.

Staff worked hard to provide equity in access to care and treatment. They made reasonable adjustments where required and listened to people's concerns to improve the service. However, we found patients who attended the emergency department who needed admitting as an inpatient, experienced long waiting times in the department.

People were in control of their care and treatment. Additional support was available through enhanced care processes and provision. There were communication aids to support people with communication needs.

The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of patients' individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback.

This service scored 86 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The majority of patients we spoke with told us that they felt they were at the centre of their care and treatment. Patients felt involved in planning and making shared decisions about their care and treatment. In the UEC Survey 2024, in relation to the question, were you involved as much as you wanted to be in the decisions about your care and treatment’, the hospital scored slightly higher than the national average.

Patients and their relatives told us staff could not do enough for them. Even when they were visibly busy, people told us staff took time to talk to people and understand what patients needed.

Staff told us they took in to account patient’s individual needs and preferences. They told us they undertook risk assessments to identify specific needs such as nutrition, hydration, mobility, falls risk and frailty score. Staff made reasonable adjustments to help patients access services. The department had access to translation services including British Sign Language to support patients, loved ones and carers with face-to-face interpreting and translation needs. There was a multi-faith room on-site for staff and patients with a chaplain team available to visit bedside upon request.

Staff were sensitive to multi-faith and dietary needs for staff and patients. Housekeeping staff requested food preferences from patients, Halal options were available. The emergency department (ED) was a peanut-free zone due to severe staff allergies.

We saw positive interactions between staff and patients with complex needs to ensure they remained settled in the department. Staff made sure patients living with mental health problems, learning disabilities and dementia, received the necessary care to meet all their needs. Staff told us that resources were available for patients living with dementia including a dementia-friendly area and twiddle sleeves provided by volunteers. There were also link workers available to provide additional support and advice to staff for supporting patients with learning and mental health difficulties.

The trust had recruited mental health care assistants (MHCAs) and registered mental health nurses to its staffing bank to ensure that patients requiring this support had access to person centred care.

The department had hearing loops for people with a hearing impairment. A hearing loop delivers the sound from a sound source such as a microphone, direct to a user’s hearing aids. There were two cubicles which could be made into one to accommodate married couples or partners.

The environment of the Children’s ED was child-friendly including colourful ceiling tiles painted by children, colourful paint and curtains, and purple footprints indicating the pathway to the paediatrics ED. There was not a dedicated play specialist within the Children’s ED although a business case had been submitted. Staff could request support from play specialists from the Children’s ward if required. Staff had undergone training in distraction techniques to minimise stress and anxiety in children which included electronic devices, audiobooks, playing with a toy and blowing bubbles.

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.

The service provided real time waiting information for patients arriving in the ED. The electronic records system facilitated this. The UEC survey in 2024 showed that patients did not always feel informed compared to the national average. However, we observed staff keeping patients informed of what was happening next and in this category the service performed better than the national average.

Patients could access information and advice that was accurate, up-to-date and provided in a way that they could understand, and which met their communication needs. The service made reasonable adjustments and supported with accessible information. For example, staff told us they were able to provide discharge paperwork in multiple languages for adult patients. Staff were able to provide discharge information to children and young peoples guardians via text in their preferred language. This was part of the Healthier Together Integrated Care System Frimley programme. The Healthier Together programme is based on patients and healthcare professionals working together to improve how local healthcare is delivered. The Healthier Together programme website provides advice for parents, young people and pregnant women, and clinical resources to support healthcare professionals.

There were two private family rooms where staff could take families and carers, when delivering bad news.

Patients knew how to access their records and decided which personal information can be shared. The trust had an online platform/ application called MyFrimleyHealth Record which provided patients with personalised and secure online access to their medical records. Examples of what people could do via the application included view details of current appointments and book follow ups, allow - with permission - for parents, family members or carers to act on their behalf, view medications, test results, allergies and letters and safely send messages to care teams.

Patients individual needs to have information in an accessible way were identified, recorded, highlighted and shared within the electronic patient record, in accordance with the Accessible Information Standard. Patients could expect information to be tailored to individual needs. This included making reasonable adjustments for disabled people, interpreting and translation for people who did not speak English as a first language and for deaf people who used British Sign Language. The trust website had a translation button which changed the website content to several different languages. There were buttons to make the font size larger and a button to change the contrast to make font appear sharper against the background.

Staff received General Data Protection Regulation training (GDPR). Patient records were held on a secure electronic patient record system which was accessed by individual staff log in.

Staff we spoke with explained they asked patients if they had any information or communication needs, a tag was then added to their electronic patient record system to alert staff. Staff told us they shared information about patient's information and communication needs with other providers of NHS and adult social care, when patients had given consent or permission for them to do so. Several system partners such as 111 service used the same electronic patient record system so information could be shared easily.

Staff told us learning disabilities and autism passports were not frequently seen, however they were a helpful method of communication. The passport was often provided by the family of the patient. The passport could then be uploaded to their electronic patient record, to ensure it was communicated to staff. If staff required support, advice was always available from the Learning Disabilities Team.

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.

Staff worked hard to provide equity in access to care and treatment. This included making reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities, those with communication difficulties or cognitive impairment. However, we found patients who attended the emergency department who needed admitting as an inpatient, experienced long waiting times in the department. Leaders and staff acknowledged that people could not always access support and treatment in a timely manner due to patient flow and capacity issues.

The service was aware of system pressures and sought to develop services that met the changing needs of patients.

Patients were listened to when they wanted to share their experience. For example, one patient told us that staff in the ED were the first people to actually listen to them and arranged appropriate follow up with a specialist team.

The department was open 24 hours a day all year round. Adults and children were cared for including those seeking treatment for mental ill health. The service worked with other healthcare professionals to provide a timely service for different healthcare needs and serious conditions needing specialist input.

The service had policies and procedures for escalation and care of patients in non-designated areas (corridor care), to mitigate the main risks from crowding. The hospital had processes to monitor performance and quality against national targets and standards

Patients were assessed and triaged timely and escalated as appropriate to their clinical needs. Patients having an initial assessment within 15 minutes of arrival, as per the national standard, was nearly always occurring. Between April 2024 and October 2024, the average time was under 15 minutes, with the exception of one week in September 2024.

People had timely access to test results and diagnosis. Data provided by the trust showed between May 2024 and November 2024 electrocardiography's (ECGs) performed were reviewed by a doctor in less than 15 minutes with the exception of one month. ECGs are a test to record the electrical signals in the heart.

There was a joint site assurance meeting three times a day. We observed a meeting chaired by the Deputy Chief Operations Officer the focus of the call was to increase capacity and flow in the hospitals, to improve ED capacity and focus on facilitating safe transfers or discharges for patients. The call provided updates from both hospital sites across all directorates on staffing, bed capacity and site team updates around discharges and the use of escalation beds. There were updates from estates, infection prevention and control, pharmacy, pathology, psychiatric liaison and community services and ICB system partners.

There were monthly emergency medicine clinical governance meetings. These meetings enabled service leaders and other key personnel to understand, monitor and assess the quality and performance. This meant appropriate action could be taken when performance against set targets deteriorated.

On average 70% patients waited four hours or less to be seen treated and discharged from the ED. However, the service had a plan to achieve its target of 78% of patients and was now back on track to achieve this.

The numbers of patients waiting longer than four hours had reduced below the England average of 37%. However, very few patients waited longer than 12 hours in the department (4.7%) This meant that people waited a shorter time at Frimley Park Hospital compared to the England average of 12%.

In the 2024 National Urgent & Emergency Care survey the trust ranked in the top 20% of trusts for 3 questions, the middle 60% for 26 questions and the bottom 20% for 1 question. The bottom question related waits to be examined and treated.

The most recent data provided by the trust showed in January 2025, 91% of patients with urgent mental health needs were seen within one hour of referral by an appropriate mental health clinician.

The hospital had processes to monitor inter-specialty reviews and referrals to identify delays in patients being reviewed following referral to specialisms such as medicine and surgery. We saw the trust had plans and a trajectory to reduce the amount of time patients were waiting.

The trust worked with other services including the local authority, ambulance provider, mental health provider, and commissioners to provide additional services for those patients who did not require an acute hospital bed with services such as Same Day Emergency Care Unit.

The department was fully accessible to patients with disabilities or who used a wheelchair.

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.