The Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt 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

The service treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Patients said staff responded quickly to their call bells.

In April, the friends and family test (FFT) data showed that 97.69% of patients would rate their experience as good or very good and 0.95% patients reported a negative FFT score for the unit with 16 negative comments received. 13 were received for main outpatients, 2 in ORLAU, and 1 in orthotics. 8 patients mentioned waiting times, 4 patients were unhappy with the outcome of their appointment, 2 left no comments and 2 were compliments. These figures were not broken down to each ward and were overall figures from FFT.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

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

Staff attitudes and behaviours when interacting with patients showed that they were discreet, respectful and responsive, providing patients with help, emotional support and advice at the time they needed it.

There was private space available on the unit for relatives. There were open visiting times for visitors. Patients and relatives were kept fully informed and staff treated them with kindness and understanding.

All relatives we spoke with told us that they were very happy with the level of compassion and commitment of staff and they felt their relatives were in good hands. We observed good attention from all staff to patient privacy and dignity. Curtains were drawn around patients and doors or blinds were closed in private rooms when necessary. Voices were lowered to avoid confidential or private information being overheard.

The service treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. Staff took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds.

Staff were supportive and responsive to patients’ individual needs. The service adjusted for patients, by ensuring easy access to premises for people and by meeting patients’ specific communication needs. Staff ensured that patients had easy access to interpreters and/or signers.

We observed interactions between staff, patients and relatives, and saw a consistent approach to open and honest communication that was sensitive and empathic.

Staff directed patients to other services when appropriate and, if required, supported them to access those services. Staff maintained the confidentiality of information about patients.

Patients had a choice of food to meet the dietary requirements of religious and ethnic groups and to account for allergies and intolerances.

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

There was an adult organ and tissue donation guideline which was updated and amended as and when required.

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.

Staff were aware of and dealt with any specific risk issues, such as falls or pressure ulcers and care planned for these accordingly. The unit carried out regular checks and patients were always visible.

Staff identified and responded to changing risks to patients such as deterioration in their National Early Warning Score.

There were 24 actions scheduled to be completed by the end of May 2025 according to the trust patient safety improvement plan, of which 10 related to High Dependency Unit many relating to medical rota/cover.

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

Staff felt positive and proud about working for the trust and their team. Staff told us they had managed through COVID since the last inspection and had created a better work environment of appreciation of the team and workplace.

Staff had access to support for their own physical and emotional health needs through an occupational health service.

The service’s staff sickness and absence were similar to the average for the provider.

Staff appraisals included conversations about career development and how it could be supported.

WhatsApp system was used for real-time updates on staff rota’s and assignments, allowing staff to see who was on duty and where.

Handover between on-call staff typically occurred between 5pm and 6pm, with flexibility based on theater schedules and emergencies, with face-to-face handover as standard unless scheduling conflicts arose. Nurses sometimes found it difficult to contact the specialist team, particularly surgeons, after 6 pm, especially when anesthetists were not present, as surgeons may be busy on the ward or assisting at theatres.

Some staff told us that the current HDU capacity and space limitations posed a risk to accommodating increasing patient numbers, complexity and could impact staff workload. The consultant emphasised that without addressing staffing, space, and resource limitations, the unit's vision for national specialisation and advanced care would be difficult.

One patient we spoke with told us that staff were caring and doing the best they could, they said that they wish staff could work sensible hours as they could see them under pressure, tired, and working long shifts.