Wexham 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 Good at this inspection the rating improved to 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.

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.

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 housekeeper who was undertaking a drink round when they noticed a patient struggling to open the packet of biscuits they had been given. The housekeeper although about to leave the bay returned to the patient and offered them assistance. Similarly, we saw the staff deal with a patient who was very confused and trying to get out of bed with compassion and kindness. We watched this interaction for 20 minutes and whilst the patient tried to get out of bed many times they were gently encouraged to stay in bed and offered distractions. 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 physical conditions. Patient feedback was very positive. Patients told us that the nursing staff could not do enough for them, that they listened to what they wanted and that they were fabulous.

There was 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 and visitors. They aided patients and their loved ones to find where they were going by taking them there. A further example of compassionate care came from the veteran's champion who arranged a full military funeral for a patient who had no family but had previously served their country. This included mourners from the local military community.

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 at all levels 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 who had a bilateral foot amputation that wanted to live alone in their own home. The staff worked with others to ensure that they were enabled to maintain their independence.

We saw that a patient who following surgery had ongoing delirium/acute psychosis was treated with respect, kindness and compassion. This patient was often wandering around the ward and was very pleasant but full of energy. The activity coordinator brought a mobile projector to the ward to project a dance floor on which the staff this patient and the staff proceeded to dance on. There were smiles all around and the patient was able to burn off their excess energy in a light-hearted way. Other patients in the bay were seen to enjoy the party atmosphere created. Staff encouraged all to join in with the dancing.

The dementia care team led a study day on managing patients with diverse needs in collaboration with the mental health and learning disability lead, the adult safeguarding team, and the clinical education team. This session aimed to enhance awareness and understanding of dementia, mental health, and learning disabilities, equipping staff with the knowledge and skills to manage behaviours that may be perceived as challenging. There had been 63 staff trained under this programme in 2024-25.

We saw that patients with substance misuse issues were treated with kindness and compassion. We saw a patient with substance misuse issues being spoken to by a specialist nurse in a private location. This move was done sensitively and so that those in the bay were unaware as to why the person had been admitted. We heard staff speaking to patients who misused substances and heard that they were sensitive to the individual needs of these patients including the effects of not having he substance. We also heard of staff who had gone above and beyond to ensure that patient needs were met. This included a patient who had been previously homeless but now had a home and wanted to return to their home but was unable as their physical and mental health issues meant that the home was not fit to live in. The ward organised a deep clean of the home so that this patient could return safely to their home.

The discharge lounge had several initiatives to meet the needs of their patients. For example, they collected donations of clothes from the local community and staff to give to patients when they did not have suitable clothes. On the day of our inspection, we heard about a gentleman who had arrived at the main reception early in the morning, confused, in his pyjamas and without footwear. He was not a patient of the hospital but staff in the discharge lounge provided him with footwear and supported him to get home safely. They also recently partnered with a local charity to provide patients who had no heating on at home with a pack containing a blanket and jumper to help keep them warm until they had put their heating on. Staff checked each patient had food at home before discharge and could provide a food parcel if needed.

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 several of the medical wards had implemented a new way of working to reduce falls.

The national staff survey demonstrated that most categories aligned to the comparator organisation for the medical directorate. However, this reflected our conversations with staff about the challenging behaviours from patients, their relatives or members of the public. Staff spoke a lot about the increases in experiencing challenging behaviour from patients and their families. Leaders recognised this and launched a wellbeing programme focused on how to de-escalate and deal with these behaviours. Staff reported feeling more able to deal with this and supported in reporting it to the police where necessary. The hospital had a protecting our people plan which a number of staff attended the working group. This identified eight different areas of focus. Each area had a lead and listed the issues for that area. An assessment against the NHS violence and aggression standard had been completed and a Red, Amber, Green (RAG) rating applied to each issue. The plan identified areas of action with the risk owners identified,

Staff told us they were valued and felt listened to by leaders and were able to escalate concerns to managers and directly to senior staff. 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 Wexham Park Hospital for several years due to the work culture. Staff members referred to the staff as "a family who worked together." We heard from ward managers how they undertook team building events in order to ensure that the team felt as one.

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. Ward managers spoke about how they would listen to their team members about any concern and, whilst not always able to help them, they would point them in the right direction for further support. 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 available for staff to continuously identify and develop skills. One ward manager talked to us about a member of staff who was on the ward but wanted to move to the emergency department. The ward manager talked through their choice of career and facilitated several courses to give this person the best chance of moving departments. Similarly, the consultant nurses trained other staff in new national initiatives to not only improve patient care but to develop staff. They also support others to develop new initiatives in their own working environment.

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 were a number of opportunities to reflect on events. Professional Nurse Advocates held confidential, supportive spaces for staff. They facilitated career conversations, quality improvement support and clinical supervision. There were several training modules which include opportunities to consider wellbeing or resilience. Data showed 337 members of the medical care team attended these modules in the previous year.