King's College Hospital

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• 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 that people were always treated with kindness, empathy, and compassion. We checked that people’s privacy, and dignity was respected and they understood that their experience of how they were treated and supported mattered. We also looked for evidence that people’s wishes were taken into account.

People were treated with kindness and compassion. Staff protected their privacy and dignity. Staff responded to people in a timely way. They provided emotional support to patients, families, and carers. The service supported staff wellbeing.

At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good.

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 evidence showed a good standard. The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Most staff we spoke with told us they felt respected, supported and valued. They felt positive and proud about working for the trust and their team. The trust had a range of support services available for staff to ensure their wellbeing.

New staff were given the option of having a mentor during their first few months through the trust’s buddy scheme. We spoke with staff who told us they had a buddy and found the scheme helpful.

Staff had access to support for their own physical and emotional health needs through an occupational health service. This included assistance with general health, wellbeing and lifestyle as well as support with workplace assessments and adjustments to support their welfare at work.

Staff had access to an employee assistance programme (EAP) where free and independent advice and counselling was available. A helpline was available to provide support around pressure and stress, financial and legal issues, and balancing work with family and personal lives.

The trust recognised staff success within the service through staff awards. Kings Stars award categories included awards for outstanding care and for staff who have inspired leadership, supported colleagues or developed others. We saw examples of staff who had received awards including one of the surgical ward managers who had won an award for improving standards.

Staff appraisals included conversations about career development and how it could be supported. The NHS staff survey results for 2025 showed that only 42% of staff looked forward to going to work and 58% were enthusiastic about their job. We requested an action plan for areas where improvements were identified but this was not provided. However, there was a summary of priorities that included a healthy work life balance, an environment where staff wanted to stay working at the trust and meaningful appraisals with clear objectives where staff feel valued.