Warwick 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

We looked for evidence people were always treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. We found evidence that every effort was made to take people’s wishes into account and respect their choices, to achieve the best possible outcomes for them.

Children and young people were treated with kindness, compassion and their privacy and dignity was respected. Staff understood the experience of how children and young people were treated and supported mattered. Children were treated as individuals and given choice and control where possible.

Caring is rated as good. This meant people always felt well-supported, cared for and treated with dignity and respect.

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.

The service treated children and young people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

Children and young people felt they were treated with kindness, compassion and dignity. When speaking to children, young people, and family members, they all told us staff were kind and caring. We saw staff treat babies, children, and young people with compassion, dignity and respect. Staff spoke compassionately about caring for their patients and they wanted to provide the best care and treatment for them.

Staff recognised the need to treat children and young people with dignity and making sure they were comfortable with who the staff were. When nurses or doctors needed to complete observations or care or treatment, curtains were pulled around the bed or side room doors were closed. We saw staff explaining to children and young people or their families and carers who they were and what they were proposing for the care and treatment.

Staff showed compassion for how families would be feeling. Neonatal staff showed compassion and kindness when speaking to parents about their babies who were unwell. Staff offered comfort and support and explained the next steps for care and treatment.

In the event of the death of a child, young person or baby, the service provided support from a key worker, a bereavement nurse, the palliative care team and a Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood trained (SUDC) lead nurse or medic. SUDC refers to the unexpected death of a child (usually aged 1-17) where the cause remains unknown even after a full investigation. Staff trained in this area offered crucial support and awareness for affected families.

There was good feedback from people who used the service. Feedback letters and compliments to the service reported “first class care and treatment” and patients were seen quickly and there was effective teamwork. Children and families stated that staff “explained everything and it was extremely evident what a great team they are” and “on MacGregor ward the excellent care and teamwork continued right from the domestic staff to the consultants.” We also saw thank you letters from children and young people displayed on the ward. We spoke to parents on the SCBU ward and the feedback was very positive, parents and carers said they had been supported and received excellent care.

The service treated children and young people as individuals and worked to provide care, support and treatment that met their needs and preferences. Staff took account of children’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics. The service used different forms of communication aids with children and young people to enable them to express their wants, needs and wishes.

Records identified multidisciplinary meetings had taken place with support from the local mental health service and social workers to meet children’s individual health and care needs.

The service completed the perinatal care bundle to reduce injury in premature birth. This was designed to improve outcomes for preterm babies. We saw the outcomes from January 2025 to July 2025, and the service performed well in most areas. However, actions were needed to increase the number of babies who for optimal cord management, the number babies received that received early maternal breast milk within 6 hours of birth and the number of babies receiving a multi-strain probiotic within the first 24 hours of life. There was a plan to be actioned, and the service knew what needed to be done to meet these outcomes and when they had been completed.

The service promoted people’s independence, so children and young people knew their rights and had choice and control where possible over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

Children, young people, and families we spoke with told us they were involved in care decisions. They told us this included difficult conversations relating to care and treatment. Staff took time to provide information. Children, young people, and families told us they felt they were able to ask nurses and doctors questions regarding their care and treatment, and staff took time to answer any questions they had.

The service listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs promptly and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern, or distress. We saw children and young people had access to the call bells and staff answered them in a timely manner.

Staff had a good understanding of the children and young people’s needs. There was good communication between departments.

The service used various communication aids for children and young people who were non-verbal. This would be identified within their ‘passport’ which described their wants, needs and preferences. Passports were used to ensure the children and young people’s needs were being met, but also to ensure there was consistency from the staff team when providing care and treatment. However, there was an inconsistent approach to completion of these passports and staff were not always able to locate these in patient files.

Staff told us they sometimes had therapy animals on the ward and had a dog that came to visit. They were arranging to have a pony and a cat to come in and visit the children on the ward.

The team used feedback to make changes to meet people’s needs. Feedback from one family talked about the noise at night on the ward and how disturbing this could be for children and young people. During our visit to the ward, we found the service had installed a noise monitor which worked on a traffic light system. Staff knew if the light was red the noise levels on the ward were too high and for people to talk in quieter tones.

Children, young people, parents and carers could access the Outreach Think Family Team on the ward. This team offered brief psychological interventions, psychoeducation for children, young people, parents and carers and their families. They also offered early emotional support and preventative strategies, wellbeing and distress-management exercises and support in maintaining healthy mental health habits. The team aim was to offer early intervention, reduce crisis escalation and support families in creating a stable emotional environment.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff. It supported and enabled staff to deliver person-centred care.

Staff felt supported in their wellbeing. We met with 15 members of staff of all levels who all felt well supported by the team and managers. Staff told us the wellbeing leads were visible and approachable for support where needed. Staff felt comfortable to raise concerns to their direct manager.

Results from the 2024 staff survey showed that 68% of ward staff and 83% of special care baby unit (SCBU) staff either agreed or strongly agreed that care of patients and service users was the organisation's top priority. Results also showed that 63% of ward staff and 83% of SCBU staff ether agreed or strongly agreed they would recommend the organisation as a place to work. Furthermore, 53% of ward staff and 87% of SCBU staff felt if a family member needed treatment, they would be happy with the standard of care provided. Staff also said:

• I feel respected by my co-workers - 80% agreed
• I have positive role models on my ward - 83% agreed
• I feel confident to speak up - 67% agreed

However, there were some areas for reflection which had been acted on. At a paediatric event held in April 2025, staff fed back that they felt there was a lack of emotional support during night shifts as managers were not on shift, and concerns about a blame culture. To address these issues the service leaders planned to request a manager start work at 7am twice a week and do 1 long day a week to ensure night staff were able to access support, and the no blame culture to be highlighted in the governance lead newsletter. This was to ensure everyone was aware of no blame culture. There was a comments box in the staff room for anonymous feedback.